Nanomembranes in fuel cells

In recent years, the problem of non-renewable energy exhaustion and environmental pollution has become increasingly serious, the development of new clean energy has become a top priority for scientists. As a device capable of converting reactive chemical energy into electric energy without generating pollution, fuel cells now have great potential for development in electric vehicles, electronic equipment, rail transit and many aspects of people's production and life. Due to the difference of battery operation characteristics, different types of fuel cell applications are also completely different. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell has attracted wide attention due to its advantages such as excellent energy conversion efficiency, remarkable power density, high power-to-weight ratio, fast start-up at low temperature, distinguished assemblability, and low pollution degree. It is considered as a green, clean, efficient and environmentally friendly power source with broad development prospects. The main function of proton exchange membrane in proton exchange membrane fuel cells is to separate fuel/oxidant and avoid direct contact between them. Highly efficient proton conduction constitutes the current path and prevents short circuits in batteries by preventing electron transfer. Nanofilms have attracted much attention in recent years because of their ability to design continuous and efficient nano-proton transport channels. There have been many reports on how to improve the overall performance of proton exchange membrane by using these methods. ii) Organic-inorganic composite membranes are prepared by filling the polymer matrix with nanomaterials or blending the two. This chapter focuses on the polymeric and hybrid/nanocomposite nano-membranes.