Investigation of fuel cell performance of proton change membranes of boron phosphate additive PVDF/Naf？on membranes

In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), nafion based and boron phosphate doped composite membranes were synthesized by solution casting method. Boron phosphate was added in different ratios (0, 2, 5, 10, 15 and 25%) to the membrane for improve membrane properties such as proton conductivity and fuel cell performance. The synthesized membranes were characterized by water uptake capacity, swelling properties, ion exchange capacity, proton conductivity measurements, and single cell performance analyzes. As a result of characterization and performance experiments highest performance values are obtained for the membrane containing 10% boron phosphate. This membrane has 44.5% water uptake capacity, 8.5% change of thickness, 0.15% change of surface area, 1.87 meq/g ion exchange capacity and 0.0296 S/cm proton conductivity at 80 °C. The same membrane has 80 mA/cm2 current density and 0.048 W/cm2 power density at 80 °C cell temperature, 100% humidity and 0.6 V cell voltage. In addition to these properties, the 10% BPO4 doped membrane showed very good oxidative and hydrolytic stability