Preparation of polyacrylate/silica membranes for fuel cell application by in situ UV polymerization

Abstract

The development of proton conductive polyacrylate membranes based on acrylonitrile, sodium 4-vinylbenzenesulfonate, acrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate and hybrid polyacrylate/silica membranes is reported in this article. Polyacrylate membranes were synthesized via UV-initiated copolymerization; for the synthesis of polyacrylate/silica membranes 3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane-based sol–gel system was introduced into the polymerizing mixture.