Anhydrous Proton Conducting Hybrid Membrane Electrolytes for High Temperature (>100C) Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Anhydrous proton conducting hybrid membranes were prepared by the sol-gel process with trimethoxysilane (TMOS)/trimethoxypro-pylsilane (TMPS)/triethyl phosphate (TEP) and BMIMBF4 ionic liquid as precursors. The Fourier transform infrared and NMR meas-urements have shown good chemical stability of these hybrid membranes. Average pore sizes and specific surface areas were investigated by the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller method. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis measurements confirmed that the hybrid membranes were thermally stable up to 250C. Maximum anhydrous conductivity of 6.4 103 S/cm was obtained for 40 wt % ionic liquid based hybrid membrane, at 150C, with a hydrogen permeability value of 0.8 1012 mol/cm s Pa