Fabrication and Characterization of Poly Vinyl Alcohol/ Poly Vinyl Pyrrolidone/MnTiO Nanocomposite Membranes for PEM Fuel Cells

PVA (poly vinyl alcohol)-MnTiO (PM) and PVA-PVP (poly 3 vinyl pyrrolidone)-MnTiO3 (PPM) nanocomposite membranes have been prepared with solutions casting method. Glutaraldehyde (GA) was used as cross linking agent. The results showed that the proton conductivity and water uptake of the nanocomposite membranes due to hydrophilic nature of MnTiO3 nanoparticles were higher than that of the PVA membrane. PPM membranes containing 5 wt. % of MnTiO3nanoparticles and PVA:PVP, 80:20, demonstrated higher thermal stability, water uptake (310%) and proton conductivity (2.1 ×10 2 S/cm) than PM membranes, due to hydrophilic effect of PVP, which can made strong hydrogen-bonding, intense intra-molecular interaction and reduce the crystallinity of the PVA polymer.