Proton Conducting Organic-Inorganic Nanocomposite Membranes from MPTS and GPTS

Novel fast proton-conducting organic-inorganic nanocomposite membranes were successfully fabricated. The polymer matrix obtained through proper oxidation of thiol ligands in (3-mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS) and hydrolysis/condensation reaction of (3-glycidoxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTS) showed relatively high proton conductivity over at . The proton conductivities of the fabricated composite membranes increased up to by increasing temperature and relative humidity to and 100% relative humidity. The high proton conductivity of the composites is due to the proton conducting path through the GPTS-derived pseudo-polyethylene oxide network in which sulfonic acid ligand work as proton donor.