Enhanced properties of Nafion nanofibrous proton exchange membranes by altering the electrospinning solvents
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Shufeng Li
,
Ruxin Gu
Abstract
Nanofibrous proton exchange membranes (PEMs) play an important role in improving the performance of the fuel cells. In this paper, two kinds of Nafion nanofibrous PEMs, Nafion-E/W and Nafion-DMF, were fabricated respectively by using ethanol/water (E/W) and N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) as the solvent and their properties, such as the morphologies, water uptake, area swelling, ion exchange capabilities, conductivities, and mechanical properties were examined. Nafion-E/W nanofibers showed a thick diameter of 6,089 nm and Nafion-DMF nanofibers a thin diameter of 410 nm. Then the two Nafion nanofibers were annealed to provide the PEMs. Compared with Nafion 117 membranes and Nafion-DMF PEMs, Nafion-E/W PEMs showed the greatest water uptake and area swelling of respectively 59.75 % and 30.31 % and the conductivity increased to 0.1405 S/cm, more than twice as much as Nafion 117 membranes, but the broken stress decreased to 5.49 MPa, nearly half of Nafion 117 membranes. Nafion-DMF PEMs showed the lowest water uptake, area swelling, and conductivity of 22.67 %, 10.75 %, and 0.0410 S/cm, and the broken stress reached 14.20 MPa, greater than 11.0 MPa of Nafion 117 membranes. The obtained experimental results are instructive to improve the properties of Nafion PEMs.
Funding source: the National Natural Science Fund of China
Award Identifier / Grant number: 51603144
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.
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Competing interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this article.
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Research funding: The funding support by the National Natural Science Fund of China (grant no. 51603144) is greatly acknowledged.
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Data availability: The raw data can be obtained on request from the corresponding author.
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© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Material Properties
- Effect of hydroxy-terminated hyperbranched polymer coated separator on the lithium-ion battery performances
- Enhanced properties of Nafion nanofibrous proton exchange membranes by altering the electrospinning solvents
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Material Properties
- Effect of hydroxy-terminated hyperbranched polymer coated separator on the lithium-ion battery performances
- Enhanced properties of Nafion nanofibrous proton exchange membranes by altering the electrospinning solvents
- Impact of proximity of hard and soft segment on IR frequency of carbamate links correlating the mechanical properties of surface-functionalized fly ash–reinforced polyurethane composites
- Effect of cellulose derivatives on crystallization and mechanical properties of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate)
- Preparation and Assembly
- Transparent poly(methyl methacrylate-butyl acrylate-hexafluorobutyl methacrylate) for conservation of stone relics: synthesis and test
- Dry porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS): a novel method using camphor as scaffold
- Engineering and Processing
- Mixing performance in an asymmetrical non-twin kneading element channel
- Utilizing ResNet for enhanced quality prediction in PET production: an AI-driven approach
