Research progress of high temperature proton exchange membranes for fuel cells

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) using hydrogen as fuels is considered as one of promising clean energy sources due to its high efficency and zero-pollution. Moreover, some technical bottlenecks of current PEMFC technique can be surmounted once high temperature applied. However, one of the challenges for high temperature PEMFC is the selection of materials for proton exchange membranes. Currently, studies on proton exchange membrane mainly focus on three directions: replacing water with other non-aqueous solvent; synthesis of new polymeric materials containing proton conductive groups; and modifications made to perfluorosulfonated polymers. In this paper, recent development of proton exchange membranes based on above three directions was reviewed.