Poor dispersion and inert ionic conduction are two major obstacles towards using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to modify polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) in energy conversion devices. In this work, solvent-free carbon nanotube fluids (CNT fluids) with liquid-like behavior are prepared through an ion exchange method and incorporated into a chitosan (CS) matrix to fabricate composite membranes. The electrostatic interactions between −SO₃⁻ groups in the CNT fluids and −NH₂ groups in the CS matrix, in addition to the unique flow properties of the CNT fluids, promote the uniform dispersion of CNT fluids in the CS matrix. Markedly, the CS/CNT fluid-3 composite membrane is simultaneously reinforced and toughened by 180% and 300% compared to pure CS membrane, respectively. Moreover, the −SO₃⁻ groups in the CNT fluids facilitate the proton transfer such that the proton conductivity of CS/CNT fluid-3 composite membrane reaches a maximum value of 0.044 S cm⁻¹ at 80 °C.

分散性差和惰性离子传导是在能量转换装置中使用碳纳米管（CNT）修饰聚合物电解质膜（PEM）的两个主要障碍。在这项工作中，通过离子交换方法制备具有液体状行为的无溶剂碳纳米管流体（CNT流体），并将其掺入壳聚糖（CS）基质中以制造复合膜。-SO之间的静电相互作用₃ ^-在CNT的流体团和-NH ₂除了CNT流体的独特流动特性外，CS基质中的基团还促进了CNT流体在CS基质中的均匀分散。明显地，与纯CS膜相比，CS / CNT fluid-3复合膜同时被分别增强和增韧180％和300％。此外，-SO ₃ ^-基团在CNT流体促进质子转移，使得CS / CNT流体-3复合膜的质子电导率达到0.044小号厘米最大值^-1在80℃。