Polymer material for electrolytic membranes in fuel cells

A method of forming a proton conducting polymer film for use in a methanol based fuel cell, comprising:

• obtaining a polymer material which can be treated to form a material with proton conducting characteristics;
• treating said polymer material to enhance its proton conducting characteristics by adding sulfonate groups in a way to increase proton conductivity;
• and
• adding an additional element to the polymer material after said treating, said additional element being one which further enhances methanol occlusion.

A method of forming an asymmetric proton-conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a polymer material;
• wherein said obtaining comprises
• dissolving H-SPEEK into a solvent,
• removing solvent,
• casting a film from the H-SPEEK solution after removing the solvent;
• and
• heating the resulting dry film in vacuum above 100.degree. C. to produce a cross-linked proton conducting membrane;
• selectively sulfonating said polymer material, to an amount which would conduct more protons than those needed for an application;
• cross-linking some of said sulfonate groups in a way such that the cross-linked sulfonate groups will not conduct protons;
• and
• using un-cross-linked sulfonate groups to conduct protons.

A method of forming an asymmetric proton-conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a polymer material;
• wherein said material is obtained by
• dissolving H-SPES into a solvent,
• removing solvent,
• casting a film from the H-SPES solution after removing the solvent;
• and
• heating the resulting dry film in vacuum above 100.degree. C. to produce a cross-linked proton conducting membrane;
• selectively sulfonating said polymer material, to an amount which would conduct more protons than those needed for an application;
• cross-linking some of said sulfonate groups in a way such that the cross-linked sulfonate groups will not conduct protons;
• and
• using un-cross-linked sulfonate groups to conduct protons.

A method of processing an asymmetrical conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a first polymer;
• processing said polymer to add sulfonic acid groups thereto in an effective amount to allow proton conduction;
• and
• modifying a morphology of the resultant compound to limit the transport of methanol across the membrane more than a limiting proton or water conduction across the membrane by crosslinking the sulfonate groups on one surface of the polymer film only, and not on the other surface of the polymer film to form a material which has asymmetric surface-dense characteristics.

A method of processing an asymmetrical conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a first polymer;
• processing said polymer to add sulfonic acid groups thereto in an effective amount to allow proton conduction;
• and
• modifying a morphology of the resultant compound to limit the transport of methanol across the membrane more than a limiting proton or water conduction across the membrane, wherein said morphology changing comprising adding a proton conducting inter-penetration polymer network.

A method of processing an asymmetrical conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a first polymer;
• processing said polymer to add sulfonic acid groups thereto in an effective amount to allow proton conduction;
• and
• modifying a morphology of the resultant compound to limit the transport of methanol across the membrane more than a limiting proton or water conduction across the membrane,
• wherein said morphology modification comprises adding particle size selected materials.

A method of forming a proton conducting polymer film, comprising:

• obtaining a polymer material selected from the group consisting of poly ether ether ketone or p-phenylene ether sulfone;
• treating said polymer to form a treated polymer with proton conducting characteristics;
• forming the treated polymer into a membrane;
• and
• further treating the treated polymer in a way to change its characteristic in a way to allow proton conduction but to minimize conduction of larger materials.