Design of Promising Green Cation-Exchange-Membranes-Based Sulfonated PVA and Doped with Nano Sulfated Zirconia for Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells

The direct borohydride fuel cell (DBFC) is a low-temperature fuel cell that requires the development of affordable price and efficient proton exchange membranes for commercial purposes. In this context, super-acidic sulfated zirconia (SO(4)ZrO(2)) was embedded into a cheap and environmentally friendly binary polymer blend, developed from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and iota carrageenan (IC). The percentage of SO(4)ZrO(2) ranged between 1 and 7.5 wt.% in the polymeric matrix. The study findings revealed that the composite membranes’ physicochemical features improved by adding increasing amounts of SO(4)ZrO(2). In addition, there was a decrease in the permeability and swelling ratio of the borohydride membranes as the SO(4)ZrO(2) weight% increased. Interestingly, the power density increased to 76 mW cm(−2) at 150 mA cm(−2), with 7.5 wt.% SO(4)ZrO(2,) which is very close to that of Nafion117 (91 mW cm(−2)). This apparent selectivity, combined with the low cost of the eco-friendly fabricated membranes, points out that DBFC has promising future applications.