{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,31]],"date-time":"2026-10-31T03:59:10Z","timestamp":1793419150962,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,20]],"date-time":"2023-10-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1697760000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"University of South Africa and the National Research Council of South Africa","award":["150341"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["150341"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/048cwvf49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The purpose of this study is to identify the steps involved in fabricating silica\/chitosan composite membranes and their suitability for fuel cell applications. It also intends to identify the physical characteristics of chitosan composite membranes, including their degree of water absorption, proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and functional groups. In this investigation, composite membranes were fabricated using the solution casting method with a chitosan content of 5 g and silica dosage variations of 2% and 4% while stirring at a constant speed for 2 h. According to the findings, the analysis of composite membranes produced chitosan membranes that were successfully modified with silica. The optimum membrane was found to be 4% s-SiO2 from the Sol-gel method with the composite membrane\u2019s optimal condition of 0.234 cm\/s proton conductivity, water uptake of 56.21%, and reduced methanol permeability of 0.99 \u00d7 10\u22127 cm2\/s in the first 30 min and 3.31 \u00d7 10\u22127 in the last 150 min. Maintaining lower water uptake capacity at higher silica content is still a challenge that needs to be addressed. In conclusion, the fabricated membranes showed exceptional results in terms of proton conductivity and methanol permeability.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes13100838","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,20]],"date-time":"2023-10-20T11:53:56Z","timestamp":1697802836000},"page":"838","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":21,"title":["Chitosan Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Livhuwani","family":"Modau","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Africa, Florida 1710, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rudzani","family":"Sigwadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Africa, Florida 1710, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Touhami","family":"Mokrani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemical Engineering, University of South Africa, Florida 1710, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fulufhelo","family":"Nemavhola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4000, South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,10,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bayrak, Z.U., and Gencoglu, M.T. 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