Nafion-porous cerium oxide nanotubes composite membrane for polymer electrolyte fuel cells operated under dry conditions

A composite membrane operated in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) under low relative humidity (RH) is developed by incorporating cerium oxide nanotubes (CeNT) into a perfluorosulfonic acid (Nafion^®) membrane. Porous CeNT is synthesized by direct heating a precursor impregnated polymer fibers at 500 °C under an air atmosphere. Compared to recast Nafion and commercial Nafion (NRE-212) membranes, the Nafion-CeNT composite membrane generates 1.1 times higher power density at 0.6 V, operated at 80 °C under 100% RH. Compared to Nafion-cerium oxide nanoparticles (Nafion-CeNP) membrane, the Nafion-CeNT provides 1.2 and 1.7 times higher PEFC performance at 0.6 V when operated at 80 °C under 100% and 18% RH, respectively. Additionally, the Nafion-CeNT composite membrane exhibits a good fuel cell operation under 18% RH at 80 °C. Specifically, the fluoride emission rate of Nafion-CeNT composite membrane is 20 times lower than that of the commercial NRE-212 membrane when operated under 18% RH at 80 °C for 96 h. The outstanding PEFC performance and durability operated under dry conditions is mainly attributed to the facile water diffusion capability as well as the effective hydroxyl radical scavenging property of the CeNT filler, resulting in significantly mitigating both the ohmic resistance and Nafion membrane degradation.