Chitosan-Polyvinyl Alcohol-Sulfonated Polyethersulfone Mixed-Matrix Membranes as Methanol-Barrier El

Chitosan-Polyvinyl Alcohol-Sulfonated Polyethersulfone Mixed-Matrix Membranes as Methanol-Barrier Electrolytes for DMFCsChitosan-PolyvinylAlcohol-SulfonatedPolyethersulfoneMixed-MatrixMembranesasMethanol-BarrierElectrolytesforDMFCsS.Meenakshi,1S.D.Bhat,1A.K.Sahu,1P.Sridhar,1S.Pitchumani,1A.K.Shukla21CSIR—CentralElectrochemicalResearchInstitute—MadrasUnit,CSIRMadrasComplex,Chennai600113,India2SolidStateandStructuralChemistryUnit,IndianInstituteofScience,Bangalore560012,IndiaReceived13April2011;accepted22August2011DOI10.1002/app.35522Publishedonline6December2011inWileyOnlineLibrary(wileyonlinelibrary.com).ABSTRACT:Chitosan(CS)-polyvinylalcohol(PVA)cross-linkedwithsulfosuccinicacid(SSA)andmodifiedwithsulfonatedpolyethersulfone(SPES)mixed-matrixmembranesarereportedfortheirapplicationindirectmethanolfuelcells(DMFCs).Polyethersulfone(PES)issulfonatedbychlorosulfonicacidandfactorsaffectingthesulfonationreaction,suchastimeandtemperature,arestudied.Theion-exchangecapacity,degreeofsulfonation,so