Hengbin Wang

Hydrogen Cyano Fullerene Derivatives as Acid for Proton Conducting Membranes

The proton conducting nature of hydrogen tricyano fullerene has been characterized for applications in fuel cells. The fullerene alone did not show much proton conductivity itself. However, when mixed in a polymer, it exhibited a high conductivity under low humidity: 10 -2 S cm -1 under the 20% relative humidity. The conductivity was enhanced as the dispersion of the fullerene was improved in the polymer matrix through two fullerene dispersants: C 60 [N(CH 2 CH 2 O) 11 CH 3 ] 2 and C 60 [C 6 H 4 O(CH 2 CH 2 O) 3 CH 3 ] 5 . The computer modeling has been performed to gain insight into the proton conducting mechanism.