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Perfluorosulfonic acid polymer membrane with increased chemical stability for hydrogen-air fuel cell
One of the key tasks of hydrogen energy development is to obtain chemically stable proton exchange polymer membranes with high proton conductivity. This article presents the results on the investigation of the stabilization of proton-conducting membranes with a Nafion®-type structure using modification by fluorine. The membranes examined in this study exhibited high thermal stability and mechanical properties that are comparable to those of commercial membranes. The water uptake and proton conductivity of the recast perfluorosulfonic acid membranes exceed those of the commercial Nafion®212 membrane. The conductivity of the obtained membranes was found to be 4.25 mS/cm at a relative humidity (RH) of 50 % at 30 °C. The maximum power density of membrane-electrode assemblies based on the obtained membranes is 20 % higher than that based on Nafion®212. The results of this study demonstrate that fluorination can significantly improve the stability of the proton-conducting membranes under hydrogen-air fuel cell operating conditions.