Advanced polymeric materials based on PBI/SiO2 composite with high-performances designated for PEM-fuel cells

Abstract

This paper is a review in regard to advanced polymeric materials based on PBI/SiÜ2 that are designated for fuel cells (FC) applications. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) became a great interest in the research field for their applications as a component in electrical vehicles. These polymeric membranes are produced from a few layers of various materials. The most suitable polymers used for the preparation of the polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) are based on various types of polybenzimidazole (PBI). Therefore, a lot of efforts have been made on further improvement of these PBI membranes. One conceivable technique is the insertion of nano-scale particles, for example — SiO2 into the polymer matrix. By using this inorganic compound the performances of the fuel cells are certainly improved.