Membrane Electrode Assembly based on Sulfonated Polystyrene as Proton Exchange Membrane for Application in Microbial Fuel Cell

A novel membrane electrode assembly (MEA) based on sulfonated polystyrene was synthesized and applied to a microbial fuel cell (MFCs). In this study, membrane electrode assembly made of sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) and nafion membrane were fabricated by combining 20% AgNO₃/C catalyst ink. The performance of membrane electrode assembly based sulfonated polystyrene (SPS) and nafion were evaluated by measuring proton conductivity and power density. This sulfonated polystyrene of membrane electrode assembly (SPS-MEA) revealed power density was higher than that nafion non activated membrane, this is considered for membrane application of proton exchange membrane (PEM). The presence of sulfonation groups of polystyrene was characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The membrane topography before and after the fuel cell process treatment was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM).