Recent Development of Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Application - A Review

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system has tremendous potential to be developed as energy converters due to the simplicity and low temperature of its operation. However, the weaknesses of commercial polymer electrolyte membrane of the cell, perfluorinated ionomer (PFI) membrane, such as methanol crossover, limited operating temperature, susceptibility to osmotic swelling and high costs are among the factors hindering the commercialization of DMFC. This paper reviews a number of studies that have been recently performed in order to overcome the weaknesses. This review has classified the membrane development into three different branches, namely the modification of PFI membranes, the development of other fluoropolymer membranes, and the development of non-fluorinated polymers membranes.