Low energy plasma treatment of Nafion® membranes for PEM fuel cells

Surface and Electrochemical Properties of Plasma-Treated Polypropylene Track Membrane

“…In this case, the calculation of value e c according to formula (6) shows that if increasing the porosity of the membrane during its treatment in the plasma, for example, in oxygen plasma, up to 11%, its dielectric permeability grows up from 2.49 to 3.08. One should expect that growth of this value and some reduction of the membrane thickness should lead to increase in the geometrical capacity of the modified membranes.…”

“…Stability of maintaining the frequency of the generator is AE1%, maximum exit power 1 kW, range of the power regulation is 100-1 000 W, step -10 W. The generator is equipped with an impedance matching device (5) and a measuring device of falling reflected power (7). The scheme of connection with the RF-generator has a separating capacitor and a specialized circuit for automatic shift control (6). The membrane samples of the size of 10 Â 10 cm 2 were placed on the central flat electrode (cathode) in the reaction chamber, which served as a holder.…”

“…The effect of low-temperature plasma on porous polymer membranes is of particular interest, as it gives rise to new advanced materials used in some modern membrane processes -membranes for bioreactors, fuel cells, catalytic reactions, etc. [5][6][7] In this respect, several research works published recently reported on the plasma effect on polymer membranes, [8][9][10][11] including the track ones, [12][13][14][15] with the purpose of modifying their properties. Membranes of this type obtain by irradiation of polymer films with energetic heavy ions and subsequent etching of tracks of these particles up to the through pores.…”

Model of cathode catalyst layers for polymer electrolyte fuel cells: The role of porous structure and water accumulation

“…It turns out to be rather difficult to find experimental data in the literature on relevant microscopic or volume-averaged values of θ and on its effect on performance. Although wetting properties of platinum [37], carbon [38], and ionomer phases [39] could be evaluated independently, the problem of how to define the wetting angle for the composite CCL remains a formidable challenge. The progress in measurement of θ would be highly valuable for validating the present model and enhancing its predictive capabilities in view of optimizing voltage efficiency and water management in PEFCs.…”

Preparation of high styrenic sulfonated polySEPS/clay composite film for proton exchange membranes (PEMs)

“…The most commonly used proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are perfluorinated copolymers with pendant sulfonic acid group, such as Nafion 1 (Dupont) [1,2], XUS 1 (DOW) [3], Flemion 1 (Asahi Glass) [4,5] and Aciplex 1 (Asahi Glass) [6,7] which combine high proton conductivity and excellent chemical stability. However, its high cost, high methanol crossover and lower operation temperature remain serious problems to its application in commercial proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs).…”