Graphene-based self-humidifying membrane and self-humidifying fuel cell

摘要

A self-humidifying fuel cell is made by preparing a porous substrate, coating the substrate with a zeolitic material (or a graphene derivative) and filling the pores with a mixture of graphene derivative and proton-conducting material (or a proton-conducting material). The coating of the substrate includes selecting a zeolitic material, and applying coating on the pore walls and surface of the porous substrate, to form zeolitic material-coated pores. The resulting composite material is used as a self-humidifying proton-conducting membrane in a fuel cell.

主权项

1. A method of producing a self-humidifying membrane used in a self-humidifying fuel cell, the method comprising the following steps:
(a) preparing a porous substrate; (b-1) coating the porous substrate with a zeolitic material selected from the group consisting of zeolites, molecular sieves and zeotypes to form zeolitic material-coated pore walls and surface; and (c-1) filling the pores of the coated porous substrate with a mixture of graphene derivative (GD) and proton-conducting material; (b-2) coating GD on the surface of porous substrate or zeolitic material-coated porous substrate; (c-2) filling the pores of the GD-coated or GD/zeolitic material-coated porous substrate with a proton-conducting material; and (d) activating the self-humidifying membrane by removing solvents in proton-conducting material precursors and porous structures of zeolites, molecular sieves or zeotype materials, thereby imparting a self-humidifying property to the membrane.