Development of a Polypropylene/Nanomaterial-Based Composite Polymer Electrolyte Membrane for Hydrogen and Methanol Fuel Cells Application

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Kuwait›s energy demand will increase to 250% of its current level by the year 2030. Therefore, the security of Kuwait›s additional energy needs to be accomplished through diversification of energy resources and exploitation of sustainable and innovative renewable energy technologies. The development of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) that includes storing energy and generating clean combustion electrical energy utilizing clean fuels like hydrogen and methanol is one of those methods. The use of PEMFC for stationary and portable applications results in clean environment and minimum carbon dioxide production, which are the demands worldwide to reduce the warming up of the climate. The current global annual revenue from fuel cells (FC) is about $2.0 billion. Despite the many advantages that the current PEMFC has, durability and cost are the two main barriers where polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) is the major cost factor. The most widely used commercial PEM is a perfluorinated polymer known as Nafion® that has a very high cost of about $ 1000/m2 and is limited to low temperature application of about ≤ 90°C. Other desired properties in PEM are good mechanical strength and good thermal stability at high temperature application. Therefore, the main objective of this research project is to prepare and characterize a low-cost (