Abstract
Anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) are considered superior to their counterpart
proton exchange fuel cells due to their many advantages. Both fuel cells use membranes as polymer
electrolytes to improve fuel-cell properties and power output. This work evaluates a series of
imidazolium-quaternized poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (ImPPO) functionalized zeolitic
imidazole framework-8 (ZIF-8) (ImPPO/ZIF-8) as anion exchange membrane (AEM) electrolytes in a
direct methanol alkaline fuel cell. FTIR and 1H NMR were used to confirm the successful membrane
fabrication. SEM and TGA were used to study the morphological and thermal stability properties of
the ImPPO/ZIF-8 membranes. The AEMs obtained in this work had contact angles ranging from
55.27–106.73◦
, water uptake from 9–83%, ion exchange capacity (IEC) from 1.93–3.15 mmol/g, and ion
conductivity (IC) from 1.02–2.43 mS/cm. The best-performing membrane, ImPPO/3%ZIF-8, showed
a water uptake of up to 35% at 80 ◦C, a swelling ratio of 15.1% after 72 h, IEC of 4.06 mmol/g, and IC
of 1.96 mS/cm. A power density of 158.10 mW/cm2 was obtained. This makes ZIF-8 a good prospect
as a filler for enhancing membrane properties.