Investigation of Humidity Dependent Surface Morphology and Proton Conduction in Multi-Acid Side Chain Membranes by Conductive Probe Atomic Force Microscopy

Perspective: Morphology and ion transport in ion-containing polymers from multiscale modeling and simulations

Ion-containing polymers are soft materials composed of polymeric chains and mobile ions. Over the past several decades they have been the focus of considerable research and development for their use as the electrolyte in energy conversion and storage devices. Recent and significant results obtained from multiscale simulations and modeling for proton exchange membranes (PEMs), anion exchange membranes (AEMs), and polymerized ionic liquids (polyILs) are reviewed. The interplay of morphology and ion transport is emphasized. We discuss the influences of polymer architecture, tethered ionic groups, rigidity of the backbone, solvents, and additives on both morphology and ion transport in terms of specific interactions. Novel design strategies are highlighted including precisely controlling molecular conformations to design highly ordered morphologies; tuning the solvation structure of hydronium or hydroxide ions in hydrated ion exchange membranes; turning negative ion-ion correlations to positive correlations to improve ionic conductivity in polyILs; and balancing the strength of noncovalent interactions. The design of single-ion conductors, well-defined supramolecular architectures with enhanced one-dimensional ion transport, and the understanding of the hierarchy of the specific interactions continue as challenges but promising goals for future research.

Designing UiO-66-Based Superprotonic Conductor with the Highest Metal-Organic Framework Based Proton Conductivity

Metal-organic framework (MOF) based proton conductors have received immense importance recently. The present study endeavors to design two post synthetically modified UiO-66-based MOFs and examines the effects of their structural differences on their proton conductivity. UiO-66-NH₂ is modified by reaction with sultones to prepare two homologous compounds, that is, PSM 1 and PSM 2, with SO₃H functionalization in comparable extent (Zr:S = 2:1) in both. However, the pendant alkyl chain holding the -SO₃H group is of different length. PSM 2 has longer alkyl chain attachment than PSM 1. This difference in the length of side arms results in a huge difference in proton conductivity of the two compounds. PSM 1 is observed to have the highest MOF-based proton conductivity (1.64 × 10^-1 S cm^-1) at 80 °C, which is comparable to commercially available Nafion, while PSM 2 shows significantly lower conductivity (4.6 × 10^-3 S cm^-1). Again, the activation energy for proton conduction is one of the lowest among all MOF-based proton conductors in the case of PSM 1, while PSM 2 requires larger activation energy (almost 3 times). This profound effect of variation of the chain length of the side arm by one carbon atom in the case of PSM 1 and PSM 2 was rather surprising and never documented before. This effect of the length of the side arm can be very useful to understand the proton conduction mechanism of MOF-based compounds and also to design better proton conductors. Besides, PSM 1 showed proton conductivity as high as 1.64 × 10^-1 S cm^-1 at 80 °C, which is the highest reported value to date among all MOF-based systems. The lability of the -SO₃H proton of the post synthetically modified UiO-66 MOFs has theoretically been determined by molecular electrostatic potential analysis and theoretical p K_a calculation of models of functional sites along with relevant NBO analyses.

Imaging Channel Connectivity in Nafion Using Electrostatic Force Microscopy

Channel connectivity is an important material property that is considered in making higher-performance proton-exchange membranes. Our group has previously demonstrated that nearly 50% of the aqueous surface domains in Nafion films do not have a connected path to the opposite side of the membrane. These so-called "dead-end" channels lead to a loss in the conductance efficiency of the membrane. Understanding the structure of these dead-end channels is an important step in improving the conductance of the membrane. Although conductive atomic force microscopy is able to provide insight into the connected channels, it does directly report on the dead-end channels. To address this, we use electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) to probe channel connectivity in a Nafion thin film (100-300 nm) under ambient conditions. EFM provided an image of the capacitive phase shift, which is influenced by surface charge, dielectric permittivity, and tip-sample geometry. We studied several individual channels and measured the quadratic dependence of the EFM signal with the bias voltage. Applying a simple parallel plate model allowed us to assign differences in the EFM signal to particular channel shapes: connected cylindrical channels, dead-end cylinder channels, and bottleneck channels.

New Insights into Perfluorinated Sulfonic-Acid Ionomers

In this comprehensive review, recent progress and developments on perfluorinated sulfonic-acid (PFSA) membranes have been summarized on many key topics. Although quite well investigated for decades, PFSA ionomers' complex behavior, along with their key role in many emerging technologies, have presented significant scientific challenges but also helped create a unique cross-disciplinary research field to overcome such challenges. Research and progress on PFSAs, especially when considered with their applications, are at the forefront of bridging electrochemistry and polymer (physics), which have also opened up development of state-of-the-art in situ characterization techniques as well as multiphysics computation models. Topics reviewed stem from correlating the various physical (e.g., mechanical) and transport properties with morphology and structure across time and length scales. In addition, topics of recent interest such as structure/transport correlations and modeling, composite PFSA membranes, degradation phenomena, and PFSA thin films are presented. Throughout, the impact of PFSA chemistry and side-chain is also discussed to present a broader perspective.

Quantitative Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy on Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Based Polymer Composites

Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) is a valuable technique for correlating the electrical properties of a material with its topographic features and for identifying and characterizing conductive pathways in polymer composites. However, aspects such as compatibility between tip material and sample, contact force and area between the tip and the sample, tip degradation and environmental conditions render quantifying the results quite challenging. This study aims at finding the suitable conditions for C-AFM to generate reliable, reproducible, and quantitative current maps that can be used to calculate the resistance in each point of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network, nonimpregnated as well as impregnated with a polymer. The results obtained emphasize the technique's limitation at the macroscale as the resistance of these highly conductive samples cannot be distinguished from the tip-sample contact resistance. Quantitative C-AFM measurements on thin composite sections of 150-350 nm enable the separation of sample and tip-sample contact resistance, but also indicate that these sections are not representative for the overall SWCNT network. Nevertheless, the technique was successfully used to characterize the local electrical properties of the composite material, such as sample homogeneity and resistance range of individual SWCNT clusters, at the nano- and microscale.