State of understanding of nafion

Copolymerization of divinylsilyl-11-silicotungstic acid with butyl acrylate and hexanediol diacrylate: synthesis of a highly proton-conductive membrane for fuel-cell applications

Highly conducive to high conductivity: Polyoxometalates were incorporated in the backbone of a hydrocarbon polymer to produce proton-conducting films. These first-generation materials contain large, dispersed clusters of polyoxometalates. Although the morphology of these films is not yet optimal, they already demonstrate practical proton conductivities and proton diffusion within the clusters appears to be very high.

Spatial and temporal mapping of water content across Nafion membranes under wetting and drying conditions

Water transport and water management are fundamental to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell operation. Accurate measurements of water content within and across the Nafion layer are required to elucidate water transport behavior and validate existing numerical models. We report here a direct measurement of water content profiles across a Nafion layer under wetting and drying conditions, using a novel magnetic resonance imaging methodology developed for this purpose. This method, multi-echo double half k-space spin echo single point imaging, based on a pure phase encode spin echo, is designed for high resolution 1D depth imaging of thin film samples. The method generates high resolution (<8 microm) depth images with an SNR greater than 20, in an image acquisition time of less than 2 min. The high temporal resolution permits water content measurements in the transient states of wetting and drying, in addition to the steady state.

Reversible capture of genomic DNA by a Nafion-coated electrode

A method in which an electrode itself is used as the sample preparation microchip is described. The gold electrode was coated with an ion-permeable polymer, Nafion, to prevent the permanent adsorption and destruction of DNA. The modified electrode was able to capture as much DNA as the bare gold electrode and to release the captured DNA effectively, whereas the bare gold electrode could not release bound DNA. The elution efficiency was greater than 70% for the Nafion-coated electrode, whereas it was less than 10% for the bare electrode. The DNA obtained was undamaged and could be amplified by polymerase chain reaction.

Wetting and absorption of water drops on Nafion films

Water drops on Nafion films caused the surface to switch from being hydrophobic to being hydrophilic. Contact angle hysteresis of >70 degrees between advancing and receding values were obtained by the Wilhelmy plate technique. Sessile drop measurements were consistent with the advancing contact angle; the sessile drop contact angle was 108 degrees . Water drop adhesion, as measured by the detachment angle on an inclined plane, showed much stronger water adhesion on Nafion than Teflon. Sessile water and methanol drops caused dry Nafion films to deflect. The flexure went through a maximum with time. Flexure increased with contact area of the drop, but was insensitive to the film thickness. Methanol drops spread more on Nafion and caused larger film flexure than water. The results suggest that the Nafion surface was initially hydrophobic but water and methanol drops caused hydrophilic sulfonic acid domains to be drawn to the Nafion surface. Local swelling of the film beneath the water drop caused the film to buckle. The maximum flexure is suggested to result from motion of a water swelling front through the Nafion film.

Lattice Boltzmann simulations for proton transport in 2-D model channels of Nafion

Proton conductance in a 2-D channel with a slab-like structure was studied to verify that the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) can be used as a simulation tool for proton conduction in a Nafion membrane, which is a mesoscopic system with a highly disordered porous structure. Diffusion resulting from a concentration gradient and migration by an electrostatic force were considered as the origins of proton transport. The electrostatic force acting on a proton was computed by solving the Poisson equation. The proton concentration in the membrane is expressed as a continuous function and the sulfonic charge is placed discretely. The space-averaged conductance of protons in a nonequilibrium stationary state was evaluated as a function of the structural parameters: namely, channel width and distribution of the sulfonic groups. The resulting space-averaged conductance deviates from the bulk values, depending particularly on the sulfonic group distribution. Details of the simulation scheme are described and the applicability of the present scheme to real membranes is discussed.