Preparation and methanol permeability of polyaniline/Nafion composite membrane

In order to realize an electrolyte membrane for DMFC having low methanol permeability, suppression of methanol permeability of Nafion by introducing polyaniline (PAn) was attempted. The membrane obtained by the electropolymerization of aniline at Nafion-coated Pt electrode had bi-layered morphology, and it showed lower ionic conductivity and lower methanol permeability compared with those of Nafion, compared to PAn introduced Nafion membrane by the chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in Nafion. The PAn introduced Nafion by chemical oxidative polymerization showed superior characteristics to Nafion from the viewpoint of conductivity and methanol permeability.