Investigation on the Microscopic/Macroscopic Mechanical Properties of a Thermally Annealed Nafion<sup>®</sup> Membrane

The Nafion<sup>®</sup> electrolyte membrane, which provides a proton pathway, is an essential element in fuel cell systems. Thermal treatment without additional additives is widely used to modify the mechanical properties of the membrane, to construct reliable and durable electrolyte mem...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Tuyet Anh Pham, Seunghoe Koo, Hyunseok Park, Quang Thien Luong, Oh Joong Kwon, Segeun Jang, Sang Moon Kim, Kyeongtae Kim
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: MDPI AG 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/2d8d1c4a4b8b4e7dad2541cca5bdcd18
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:The Nafion<sup>®</sup> electrolyte membrane, which provides a proton pathway, is an essential element in fuel cell systems. Thermal treatment without additional additives is widely used to modify the mechanical properties of the membrane, to construct reliable and durable electrolyte membranes in the fuel cell. We measured the microscopic mechanical properties of thermally annealed membranes using atomic force microscopy with the two-point method. Furthermore, the macroscopic property was investigated through tensile tests. The microscopic modulus exceeded the macroscopic modulus over all annealing temperature ranges. Additionally, the measured microscopic modulus increased rapidly near 150 °C and was saturated over that temperature, whereas the macroscopic modulus continuously increased until 250 °C. This mismatched micro/macroscopic reinforcement trend indicates that the internal reinforcement of the clusters is induced first until 150 °C. In contrast, the reinforcement among the clusters, which requires more thermal energy, probably progresses even at a temperature of 250 °C. The results showed that the annealing process is effective for the surface smoothing and leveling of the Nafion<sup>®</sup> membrane until 200 °C.