Proton Conductivity through Polybenzimidazole Composite Membranes Containing Silica Nanofiber Mats

[EN] The quest for sustainable and more efficient energy-converting devices has been the focus of researchers 0 efforts in the past decades. In this study, SiO2 nanofiber mats were fabricated through an electrospinning process and later functionalized using silane chemistry to introduce different polar groups OH (neutral), SO3H (acidic) and NH2 (basic). The modified nanofiber mats were embedded in PBI to fabricate mixed matrix membranes. The incorporation of these nanofiber mats in the PBI matrix showed an improvement in the chemical and thermal stability of the composite membranes. Proton conduction measurements show that PBI composite membranes containing nanofiber mats with basic groups showed higher proton conductivities, reaching values as high as 4 mS.cm(-1) at 200 degrees C. This research was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) for the financial support, grant number ENE/2015-69203-R. Escorihuela, J.; Garcia Bernabe, A.; Montero Reguera, ÁE.; Andrio, A.; Sahuquillo, O.; Giménez Torres, E.; Compañ Moreno, V. (2019). Proton Conductivity through Polybenzimidazole Composite Membranes Containing Silica Nanofiber Mats. Polymers. 11(7):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11071182