Porous polymer derived ceramic (PDC)-montmorillonite-H3PMo12O40/SiO2 composite membranes for microbial fuel cell (MFC) application

Ceramic membranes can serve as viable alternatives to the less mechanically stable polymeric membranes utilized in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this work, a series of polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) proton exchange composite membranes with large ion exchange capacity (IEC) values, high cation transport numbers, and low oxygen diffusion coefficients have been synthesized at various pyrolysis temperatures using a pressing technique. These materials were composed of a polysiloxane matrix mixed with proton-conducting fillers such as montmorillonite and H3PMo12O40/SiO2 at different ratios. By tuning the average pore sizes of the membranes between 0.1 and 1 µm and their hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics, the maximum IEC of 0.6072 mequiv/g and cation transport number of 0.6988 were obtained, which is 67% and 72% of polymeric nafion performance, respectively. In addition, the minimal oxygen mass transfer coefficient achieved by this approach was equal to 5.62 × 10−4 cm/s, which is very close to the commercial nafion membrane value. The fabricated PDC composite membranes meet all the essential criteria required for their use in MFC applications and represent a high potential to overcome limitations of polymeric membrane.