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Due to their simple synthesis method and excellent properties, such as superior adsorption and regeneration capabilities, with a large surface area and tunable pores, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as a suitable option for wastewater treatment. Although an exponential growth in MOF literature has been observed in recent years, conducting a quantitative literature analysis of MOF application in wastewater treatment is a novelty. To fill this gap, a total of 1187 relevant publications were extracted from the Web of Science, published during the last 50 years, and analyzed using bibliometric and content analysis techniques. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to reveal growing publication trends, leading journals, prolific countries, and organizations; whereas, a content analysis was used to highlight key research themes and hot topics in this field. The analyses revealed that there is a strong international collaboration among authors, countries, and organizations. Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal of Hazardous Materials, and Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering are the most prolific journals in this field. Furthermore, the use of MOFs for removing antibiotics from wastewater was identified as a recent hot topic. In addition, performance enhancements of MOFs, in terms of a higher adsorption capacity and water stability, were identified as topics of great interest. To cater to these issues, the application of graphene, graphene oxides, nanoparticles, and quantum dots was also observed in the research fronts in this field.

Membrane morphology plays a great role in determining the performance of polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs), especially for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) applications. Membrane morphology can be divided into two types, which are dense and porous structures. Membrane fabrication methods have different configurations, including dense, thin and thick, layered, sandwiched and pore-filling membranes. All these types of membranes possess the same densely packed structural morphology, which limits the transportation of protons, even at a low methanol crossover. This paper summarizes our work on the development of PEMs with various structures and architecture that can affect the membrane’s performance, in terms of microstructures and morphologies, for potential applications in DMFCs. An understanding of the transport behavior of protons and methanol within the pores’ limits could give some perspective in the delivery of new porous electrolyte membranes for DMFC applications.

In this chapter, we summarize some important parameters regarding the proton exchange membrane (PEM) in a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system. The PEM mainly consists of a solid polymer that can be either natural or synthetic. Synthetic polymers are much easier to handle due to their natural, man-made production. The purpose is to present the type of membrane structure that is commonly governed in DMFC applications. Other than that, membrane fabrication methods, membrane characterization, and separation mechanisms that occur inside the polymer matrix are disclosed in this chapter. The potential applications of DMFC in various field is also explored. Therefore, by analyzing all of the above concerns, it was assumed that the understanding of DMFC systems could be further clarified, which is not only restricted to dense membranes, but also to porous membranes.

A coherent review on the advanced proton exchange membranes (PEMs) for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) application and the future direction in the development of a high performance polymeric membrane for DMFC were discussed in this paper. PEMs have a profound influence on performance of DMFC. The PEMs are categorized into five groups which are partially fluorinated, perfluorinated ionomers, acid–base complexes, non-fluorinated ionomers, hydro carbon and aromatic polymers. Many researchers have investigated the functionalization methods on the PEMs to solve methanol crossover problem while obtaining low electronic conductivity, high proton conductivity, low electro osmotic drag coefficient, high mechanical properties and good chemical and thermal stability. Including in this review, fabrication of PEM using electrospinning process coupled with the promising functionalized polymeric materials which were known to be the most important initiatives at present in order to further expand the full potential of DMFC performance.

Proton exchange membrane (PEM) is an electrolyte which behaves as important indicator for fuel cell’s performance. Research and development (R&D) on fabrication of desirable PEM have burgeoned year by year, especially for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). However, most of the R&Ds only focus on the parent polymer electrolyte rather than polymer inorganic composites. This might be due to the difficulties faced in producing good dispersion of inorganic filler within the polymer matrix, which would consequently reduce the DMFC’s performance. Electrospinning is a promising technique to cater for this arising problem owing to its more widespread dispersion of inorganic filler within the polymer matrix, which can reduce the size of the filler up to nanoscale. There has been a huge development on fabricating electrolyte nanocomposite membrane, regardless of the effect of electrospun nanocomposite membrane on the fuel cell’s performance. In this present paper, issues regarding the R&D on electrospun sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK)/inorganic nanocomposite fiber are addressed.

usage which contributes to the environmental issues. Among the type of existing renewable energy, fuel cells is the most promising renewable energy sources since the energy can be directly converted from combustible of fuel. The proton exchange membrane (PEM) is the heart of the fuel cells system. The research and development on proton electrolyte membrane is keep burgeoned. Even though the studies of the electrolyte nanocomposite membrane for fuel cell application are quite various but only a few studies focused on the effect of electrospun nanocomposite membrane on the performance of proton electrolyte membrane. This review is focusing on the electrospinning process for the preparation of electrospun fiber membrane. This review is concentrates on polymer based membrane electrospun nanofiber and their influence on proton conductivity as well as on fuel crossover barrier properties. The proton conductivity and fuel crossover can be improved by fully exfoliated structure of nanocomposite electrolyte membrane via electropinning process and thus the membrane can be an alternative PEM for DMFC applications.