The development of membranes for high temperature PEMFC

We have succeeded in the preparation of high molecular weight polybenzimidazoles by solution polycondensation of 3,3'-diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride with isophthalic acid, terephthalic acid, or with their derivatives using polyphosphoric acid both as solvent and as condensing agent. Also, we modified phosphoric acid into fluoroalkyl-phosphonic acids[F-PA]. The main reasons are as follows, first of all F-PAs are stronger acids than PA and alkylphosphonic acids which should promote proton hopping and transport. In addition, F-PA has weaker adsorption onto Pt which help to prevent electrocatalyst poisoning and promote higher oxygen reduction activity. The ionic conductivity of 85%-H3PO4 doped membranes show $10^{-2}\;Scm^{-1}\;to\;3{\times}10^{-2}\;Scm^{-1}\;at\;150^{\circ}C$ MEA with 2 %-added electrolyte shows slightly higher cell voltage than the others.