0000000000009533

AUTHOR

Francesca Conciauro

Fuel Cell Performances of Bio-Membranes Made of Chitosan-Polyelectrolyte Thin Films and Nanowires into Anodic Alumina Membranes

Chitosan (CS) / Phosphotungstic acid (PTA) polyelectrolytes in the shape of thin films and nanowires supported by Anodic Alumina Membranes (AAM) have been fabricated through solution cast and filtration techniques, respectively. Their ability to function in a H2/O2 fuel cell under mild conditions (room temperature, low humidity and low Pt loading) is proved for the first time. The fabricated membrane electrode assemblies produce power peaks of ~20 mW cm-2 for both films and nanowires. The CS/PTA films (20-40 μm thick) are able to produce a quite constant power density of ~10 mW cm-2 recorded for at least 7 h. The gradual decrease of the power output with time observed for CS/PTA nanowires i…

research product

Cs0.86(NH41.14SO4Te(OH)6 in porous anodic alumina for micro fuel cell applications.

Abstract Cs0.86(NH4)1.14SO4Te(OH)6 supported by anodic alumina membranes (AAMs) has been characterized for the first time in H2/O2 fuel cell. The fabricated membrane electrode assemblies are able to produce peak power densities in the range 15–30 mW cm−2 under mild conditions (room temperature, low humidity and low Pt loading) and show an increased durability with cycling with respect to previous results obtained with AAM-based fuel cell. The physico-chemical characterization of the electrolytes has been carried out through X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy and micro-raman analysis. An estimation of the composite membranes conductance under fuel cell operation has been carr…

research product

Nanoscale membrane electrode assemblies based on porous anodic alumina for hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell

In this paper, we demonstrate that nanoscale membrane electrode assemblies, functioning in a H 2/O 2 fuel cell, can be fabricated by impregnation of anodic alumina porous membranes with Nafion® and phosphotungstic acid. Porous anodic alumina is potentially a promising material for thin-film micro power sources because of its ability to be manipulated in micro-machining operations. Alumina membranes (Whatman, 50 μm thick, and pore diameters of 200 nm) impregnated with the proton conductor were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. The electrochemical characterization of the membrane electrode assemblies was carried out by recording t…

research product