Novel N-p-carboxy benzyl chitosan/poly (vinyl alcohol/functionalized zeolite mixed matrix membranes for DMFC applications

Faizah Altaf; Rida Batool; Rohama Gill; Muhammad Atif Shabir; Matthew Drexler; Faisal Alamgir; Ghazanfar Abbas; Aneela Sabir; Karl I Jacob

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116111

Novel N-p-carboxy benzyl chitosan/poly (vinyl alcohol/functionalized zeolite mixed matrix membranes for DMFC applications

Carbohydr Polym. 2020 Jun 1:237:116111. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116111. Epub 2020 Mar 5.

Authors

Faizah Altaf¹, Rida Batool², Rohama Gill³, Muhammad Atif Shabir⁴, Matthew Drexler⁵, Faisal Alamgir⁵, Ghazanfar Abbas⁶, Aneela Sabir⁷, Karl I Jacob⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, 46000, Pakistan; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Avenue, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA; Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan. Electronic address: faizahaltaf@gmail.com.
² Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, 46000, Pakistan; School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Avenue, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA; Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan.
³ Department of Environmental Sciences, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Rawalpindi, 46000, Pakistan.
⁴ Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38000, Pakistan.
⁵ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Avenue, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics, COMSATS University Islamabad, Lahore Campus, Lahore, 54000, Pakistan.
⁷ Department of Polymer Engineering and Technology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan.
⁸ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, North Avenue, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA. Electronic address: karl.jacob@mse.gatech.edu.

PMID: 32241453
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2020.116111

Abstract

The novel N-p-carboxy benzyl chitosan (CBC)/ poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) filled with surface-modified zeolite have been prepared using the dissolution casting technique. The applicability of prepared MMMs for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was investigated in terms of water uptake, methanol permeation, and proton conductivity by changing filler content (10-50 wt. %). The zeolite was modified by silane coupling agent, 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS). The resultant modified zeolite (MZ) was incorporated into CBC/PVA blend to obtain mixed matrix PEMs. The functional group, structural properties, morphological and topographical investigation of MMMs were examined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) respectively. The prepared MMMs exhibited a remarkable decrease in methanol permeability of 2.3 × 10^-7 cm²/s with C-CPMZ50. The maximum value of proton conductivity of 0.0527 Scm^-1, was shown by C-CMPZ10. The prepared PEMs also displayed good stability during long term operating time.

Keywords: Direct methanol fuel cell; Functionalized zeolite; Methanol permeability; Modified zeolite; Polymer electrolyte membrane; Polymer matrix membrane.