Solid electrolyte Sm0.2Ce0.8O2−δ reinforced polymer composite membranes for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells

We designed a new type of high temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM), which consists of polyethersulfone (PES)-Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-xSmCeO (SDC) (x = 0, 2 wt%, 4 wt%, 6 wt%), and the effect of SDC contents was systematically studied. The incorporation of SDC nanoparticles into the membrane plays a very important role in compromising the conductivity, the mechanical strength, and the durability of the membrane, because SDC has a certain extent proton conductivity, and the SDC has flocculent structure. The single cell shows the maximum power density of 1229 mW/cm under a backpressure of 0.15 MPa at 160 °C, and the output performance keeps stable during the 1000 h stability test at a constant voltage of 0.7 V.