The primary goal of this study is to develop a high-performanced proton exchange membrane with the
characteristics of through-membrane and continuous solution blown nanofibers as proton-conducting
channels. The curled sulfonated phenolphthalein poly (ether sulfone) and poly (vinylidene fluoride)
nanofibers were separately fabricated through the solution blowing process which is a new nanofiber
fabricating method with high productivity, then they were fabricated into a sandwich-structured mat.
Then this sandwich-structured mat was hot-pressed to form the designed structure using different
melting temperatures of the two polymers by melting and making poly (vinylidene fluoride) flow into
the phenolphthalein poly (ether sulfone) nanofiber mat. The characteristics of the composite membrane,
such as morphology and performance of the membrane, were investigated. The characterization results
proved the successful preparation of the membrane structure. Performance results showed that the
novel structured membrane with through-membrane nanofibers significantly improved water swelling
and methanol permeability, though its conductivity is lower than that of Nafion, the cell performance
showed comparable results. Therefore, the novel structure design can be considered as a promising
method for preparing of proton exchange membranes.