Effect of metallacarborane salt H[COSANE] doping on the performance properties of polybenzimidazole membranes for high temperature PEMFCs

[EN] In this paper, a series of composite proton exchange membranes comprising a cobaltacarborane protonated H[Co(C2B9H11)(2)] named (H[COSANE]) and polybenzimidazole (PBI) for a high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is reported, with the aim of enhancing the proton conductivity of PBI membranes doped with phosphoric acid. The effects of the anion [Co(C2B9H11)(2)] concentration in three different polymeric matrices based on the PBI structure, poly(2,2 '-(m-phenylene)-5,5 '-bibenzimidazole) (PBI-1), poly[2,2 '-(p-oxydiphenylene)-5,5 '-bibenzimidazole] (PBI-2) and poly(2,2 '-(p-hexafluoroisopropylidene)-5,5 '-bibenzimidazole) (PBI-3), have been investigated. The conducti…