This PhD project is devoted to designing and fabricating advanced PBI based composite membranes, in which a crosslinked fiber matrix is assumed to reinforce the bulk phase of the membrane with good phase compatibility. The fiber matrix is prepared by electrospinning, forming a 3‐D structure that is interstitial and interconnected. The structure is used as a heterogeneous matrix to be filled by a bulk polymer phase, which is then to be functionalized by acid doping to create proton conductivity. The procedure is schematically illustrated in Figure 1 and the composite membranes are under characterization in term of micromorphology, gas permeability, conductivity, mechanical strength and fuel cell tests. The objectives of this project include preparation of electrospun 3-D PBI mat, fabrication of composite membranes and evaluation of composite membranes.
Figure 1. Schematic representation of experiment route
The PhD project is funded by DTU and China Scholarship Council (CSC).