The present work describes the characterization of new protonic exchange biological membranes, using “maguey” as raw material, with the aim of providing a new alternative due to the fact that, over the past few years, Nafion (perfluorinated polymer) has been the most commonly utilized as polymer membrane in various application: Direct Alcohol Fuel Cell, Methanol and hydrogen [1], as well as electrolysers. In this sense, has been development different modifications to the Nafion [2] membrane without replacing it completely.

The organic membrane was based on the use of the “penca” cuticle. The cutine, the main component of the cuticle, is a polymer that consists of long chain fatty acids by ester-type bonds [3]. The epidermis of the plant is mainly responsible for gas exchanging through stomata which allows the cuticle to act as an interface between the cell and the external environment, thus allowing the proton exchange in the electrochemical process.

There were various types of treatments to the organic membranes, such as: mechanical activations, acidic, alkaline, polymeric coatings, electrical and thermal. With the purpose of obtaining hydrogen and oxygen in an electrolyzer. It was noted that the viable treatments for activation are both the mechanical and thermal, highlighting the thermal treatment as ideal due to the higher average life span and obtaining current intensity, in comparison with the mechanical treatment, which represents a lower average life span. In addition, the bio-membrane is coupling in a methanol fuel cell results competitive with commercial Nafion membrane, as shown in Table 1.

There were different techniques to know the morphology of the membrane, as well as their functional groups (SEM, Infrared, Raman), so the incorporation in an electrolytic cell and fuel show similar results to the Nafion membrane, which is a viable alternative to replace the Nafion.

References

[1] Ping Li, Wenjia Wu, Jindun Liu, Benbing Shi, Yaqian Du, Yifan Li, Jingtao Wang. Investigating the nanostructures and proton transfer properties of Nafion-Go hybrid membranes. Journal of Membrane Science. In Press, Accepted Manuscript, (2018) xxx.

[2] F. Ahmad Zakil, S.K. Kamarudin, S. Basri, Modified nafion membranes for direct alcohol fuel cells: An overview, renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 65 (2016) 841-852.

[3] Denise Castro-Ochoa, Carolina Peña-Montes y Amelia Farrés, Producción y características de cutinasas: Una alternativa interesante para biocatálisis a nivel industrial, TIP Revista Especializada en Ciencias Químico-Biológicas, 13 (2010) 16-25.