Abstract Ceramic membranes can serve as viable alternatives to the less mechanically stable polymeric membranes utilized in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In this work, a series of polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) proton exchange composite membranes with large ion exchange capacity (IEC) values, high cation transport numbers, and low oxygen diffusion coefficients have been synthesized at various pyrolysis temperatures using a pressing technique. These materials were composed of a polysiloxane matrix mixed with proton-conducting fillers such as montmorillonite and H3PMo12O40/SiO2 at different ratios. By tuning the average pore sizes of the membranes between 0.1 and 1 µm and their hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics, the maximum IEC of 0.6072 mequiv/g and cation transport number of 0.6988 were obtained, which is 67% and 72% of polymeric nafion performance, respectively. In addition, the minimal oxygen mass transfer coefficient achieved by this approach was equal to 5.62 × 10−4 cm/s, which is very close to the commercial nafion membrane value. The fabricated PDC composite membranes meet all the essential criteria required for their use in MFC applications and represent a high potential to overcome limitations of polymeric membrane.

中文翻译：

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用于微生物燃料电池 (MFC) 应用的多孔聚合物衍生陶瓷 (PDC)-蒙脱石-H 3 PMo 12 O 40 /SiO 2 复合膜

摘要陶瓷膜可以作为微生物燃料电池 (MFC) 中使用的机械稳定性较差的聚合物膜的可行替代品。在这项工作中，使用压制技术在各种热解温度下合成了一系列具有大离子交换容量 (IEC) 值、高阳离子传输数和低氧扩散系数的聚合物衍生陶瓷 (PDC) 质子交换复合膜。这些材料由聚硅氧烷基质与不同比例的质子传导填料如蒙脱石和 H3PMo12O40/SiO2 混合而成。通过在 0.1 到 1 µm 之间调整膜的平均孔径及其亲水/疏水特性，获得了 0.6072 mequiv/g 的最大 IEC 和 0.6988 的阳离子传输数，分别是聚合物 nafion 性能的 67% 和 72%。此外，通过这种方法实现的最小氧传质系数等于 5.62 × 10−4 cm/s，非常接近商业 nafion 膜的值。制造的 PDC 复合膜满足在 MFC 应用中使用所需的所有基本标准，并具有克服聚合物膜局限性的巨大潜力。