Influence of TiO2 on proton conductivity in fuel cell electrolytes based on sol–gel derived P2O5–SiO2 glasses

Abstract P 2 O 5 –TiO 2 –SiO 2 based glasses have been prepared by a sol–gel process. The glasses were characterized by structural, thermal, nitrogen adsorption–desorption and conductivity measurements. The structural formation has been confirmed by the FTIR and NMR analysis. The proton conductivity of the glasses increased linearly with increase in temperature. Glasses with an average pore size less than 2 nm showed higher values of proton conductivity in humid atmosphere. The conductivity value increased from 6.47 × 10 −4 S/cm to 3.04 × 10 −2 S/cm at 70% RH in the temperature range 30–90 °C. We observed in fuel cell measurements that the performance of the E1 electrode is superior to that of the other electrodes at the same operating condition. The power density shows a similar pattern to current density.