Published Paper Details:

Composite membranes of All- purpose flour and S-PEEK (Sulphonated-polyetheretherketone) was prepared using solution casting and solvent evaporation method .The prepared membranes were thus characterized by Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) to verify sulfonation. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) was carried out to investigate the thermal stability of the sulfonated membranes. Surface morphology and tensile strength were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and UTM, respectively. Sorption experiments were conducted to observe the interaction of sulfonated polymers with water and methanol. The ion exchange capacity (IEC), which is a measure of proton conductivity was evaluated and found to be comparable with the commercially available NafionTM membranes. The membranes showed sufficient thermal stability also, the water uptakes and swelling ratios of the composite membrane increased with increase in the weight percent of the reinforcement. The membrane was assessed for its potential at different weight percent of All-purpose flour to serve as proton exchange membranes (PEM) in fuel cells and the results were promising.