Effect of ionic groups on the morphology and transport properties in a novel perfluorinated ionomer containing sulfonic and phosphonic acid groups: a molecular dynamics study

Combining the phosphonic acid group with the sulfonic acid group in PEMs has been shown to be an effective strategy for improving the fuel cell performance. However, the interplay of two different ionic groups and the resulting effect on the membrane properties have not been fully elucidated. Here, we used classical molecular dynamics simulation to investigate the morphologies, transport properties and effects of ionic groups in a novel perfluorinated PEM containing two ionic groups (PFSA-PFPA) in comparison to the corresponding homopolymers. Phase separations between hydrophilic and hydrophobic domains are confirmed in these PEMs and result from the evolution of water clusters formed around the ionic groups. The combination of both ionic groups brings a complicated morphological feature in PFSA-PFPA, with near-cylindrical aqueous domains of large length scales interconnected by tortuous domains of small sizes. And we found that the self-diffusion coefficients of water molecules are strongly related to morphologies, with the water transport in PFSA-PFPA lying between two analogous homopolymers. At the molecular level, we found that the sulfonic and phosphonic acid groups have distinct effects on the coordination behaviors and the dynamics of water molecules and hydronium ions. Strong electrostatic interactions lead to compact coordination structures and sluggish dynamics of hydronium ions around phosphonic acid groups, which determine the morphological evolution and transport properties in PFSA-PFPA. Our study affords insights into the relationship between molecular characteristics and transport properties bridged by phase-separated morphologies in a novel PEM containing both sulfonic acid and phosphonic acid groups, which deepens the understanding of the interplay between two ionic groups and may inspire the rational design of high-performance PEMs.

Effects of Hydration and Temperature on the Microstructure and Transport Properties of Nafion Polyelectrolyte Membrane: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation

To investigate the effects of temperature and hydration on the microstructure of polymer electrolyte membrane and the transport of water molecules and hydronium ions, molecular dynamics simulations are performed on Nafion 117 for a series of water contents at different temperatures. The interactions among the sulfonate groups, hydronium ions, and water molecules are studied according to the analysis of radial distribution functions and coordination numbers. The sizes and connectivity of water clusters are also discussed, and it is found that the hydration level plays a key role in the phase separation of the membrane. However, the effect of the temperature is slight. When the water content increases from 3.5 to 16, the size of water clusters in the membrane increases, and the clusters connect to each other to form continuous channels for diffusion of water molecules and hydronium ions. The diffusion coefficients are estimated by studying the mean square displacements. The results show that the diffusion of water molecules and hydronium ions are both enhanced by the increase of the temperature and hydration level. Furthermore, the diffusion coefficient of water molecules is always much larger than that of hydronium ions. However, the ratio of the diffusion coefficient of water molecules to that of hydronium ions decreases with the increase of water content.

Morphological effect of side chain on H3O+ transfer inside polymer electrolyte membranes across polymeric chain via molecular dynamics simulation

Performance and durability of polymer electrolyte membrane are critical to fuel cell quality. As fuel cell vehicles become increasingly popular, membrane fundamentals must be understood in detail. Here, this study used molecular dynamic simulations to explore the morphological effects of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based membranes on ionic conductivity. In particular, I developed an intuitive quantitative approach focusing principally on hydronium adsorbing to, and desorbing from, negatively charged sulfonate groups, while conventional ionic conductivity calculations featured the use of mean square displacements that included natural atomic vibrations. The results revealed that shorter side-chains caused more hydroniums to enter the conductive state, associated with higher ion conductivity. In addition, the hydronium path tracking showed that shorter side-chains allowed hydroniums to move among host groups, facilitating chain adsorption, in agreement with a mechanism suggested in earlier studies.

Effect of the Side-Chain Length in Perfluorinated Sulfonic and Phosphoric Acid-Based Membranes on Nanophase Segregation and Transport: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Approach

The effect of side-chain length on the nanophase-segregated structure and transport in perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA)-based and perfluorinated phosphoric acid (PFPA)-based membranes is investigated at 20 and 5 wt % water content conditions using a molecular dynamics simulation method. It is found using the pair correlation analysis that the longer side chain leads to more developed local water structures in the water phase at 20 wt % water content, observable in both membrane chemistries albeit more distinct in PFPA-based membranes. It is also confirmed from the structure factor analysis that large-scale nanophase segregation is enhanced with increasing side-chain length for PFPA membranes, whereas no significant change is observed at these scales for PFSA membranes. Next, it is revealed that the proton transport is increased by 0.004 S/cm in PFSA-based membranes with increasing side-chain length due to the enhanced vehicular and hopping mechanisms, whereas the proton transport in PFPA-based membranes is decreased by 0.002 S/cm despite improved nanophase segregation. As confirmed by the pair correlation function analysis, the diminished proton transport in PFPA-based membranes is attributed to the molecular association of phosphate groups with hydronium ions via hydrogen bond in the longer side-chain case, which is namely a hydronium-mediated bridge configuration. Such bridge configurations and correspondingly similar trends in proton transport are also observed at 5 wt % water content condition to a lesser extent. Our simulation study demonstrates that the proton transport is affected by the hydrogen-bonding network as well as by the nanophase segregation.

Theoretical analyses on water cluster structures in polymer electrolyte membrane by using dissipative particle dynamics simulations with fragment molecular orbital based effective parameters

The mesoscopic structures of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) affect the performances of fuel cells. Nafion® with the Teflon® backbone has been the most widely used of all PEMs, but sulfonated poly-ether ether-ketone (SPEEK) having an aromatic backbone has drawn interest as an alternative to Nafion. In the present study, a series of dissipative particle dynamics (DPD) simulations were performed to compare Nafion and SPEEK. These PEM polymers were modeled by connected particles corresponding to the hydrophobic backbone and the hydrophilic moiety of sulfonic acid group. The water particle interacting with Nafion particles was prepared as well. The crucial interaction parameters among DPD particles were evaluated by a series of calculations based on the fragment molecular orbital (FMO) method in a non-empirical way (Okuwaki et al., J. Phys. Chem. B, 2018, 122, 338–347). Through the DPD simulations, the water and hydrophilic particles aggregated, forming cluster networks surrounded by the hydrophobic phase. The structural features of formed water clusters were investigated in detail. Furthermore, the differences in percolation behaviors between Nafion and SPEEK revealed much better connectivity among water clusters by Nafion. The present FMO-DPD simulation results were in good agreement with available experimental data.

The mesoscopic structures of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) affect the performances of fuel cells.

Water sub-diffusion in membranes for fuel cells

We investigate the dynamics of water confined in soft ionic nano-assemblies, an issue critical for a general understanding of the multi-scale structure-function interplay in advanced materials. We focus in particular on hydrated perfluoro-sulfonic acid compounds employed as electrolytes in fuel cells. These materials form phase-separated morphologies that show outstanding proton-conducting properties, directly related to the state and dynamics of the absorbed water. We have quantified water motion and ion transport by combining Quasi Elastic Neutron Scattering, Pulsed Field Gradient Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and Molecular Dynamics computer simulation. Effective water and ion diffusion coefficients have been determined together with their variation upon hydration at the relevant atomic, nanoscopic and macroscopic scales, providing a complete picture of transport. We demonstrate that confinement at the nanoscale and direct interaction with the charged interfaces produce anomalous sub-diffusion, due to a heterogeneous space-dependent dynamics within the ionic nanochannels. This is irrespective of the details of the chemistry of the hydrophobic confining matrix, confirming the statistical significance of our conclusions. Our findings turn out to indicate interesting connections and possibilities of cross-fertilization with other domains, including biophysics. They also establish fruitful correspondences with advanced topics in statistical mechanics, resulting in new possibilities for the analysis of Neutron scattering data.

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.

Molecular dynamics simulation of Keggin HPA doped Nafion® 117 as a polymer electrolyte membrane

Nafion®/heteropoly acid (HPA) composite membranes and the impact of the anionic charge of HPA on water and hydronium dynamics were investigated using molecular dynamics simulation.

Proton Diffusion Coefficient in Electrospun Hybrid Membranes by Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy

Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) was, for the first time, used to estimate the global transverse proton diffusion coefficient, D(H+)(EHM), in electrospun hybrid conducting membranes (EHMs). In contrast to conventional impedance spectroscopy, EIS measurements were performed at room temperature with a liquid interface. In this configuration, the measure of the bulk proton transport is influenced by the kinetics of the transfer of proton at the solid/liquid interface. We demonstrated that the use of additives in the process of the membrane impacts the organization of the hydrophilic domains and also the proton transport. The D(H+)(EHM) is close to 1.10(-7) cm(2) s(-1) (± 0.1.10(-7) cm(2) s(-1)) for the EHMs without additive, whereas it is 4.10(-6) cm(2) s(-1) (± 0.4.10(-6) cm(2) s(-1)) for EHMs with additives.

Polymer chain length, phosphoric acid doping and temperature dependence on structure and dynamics of an ABPBI [poly(2,5-benzimidazole)] polymer electrolyte membrane

The random orientations of BI units and the presence of free rotation around the single bond which connects two monomeric BI segments lead to minimal possibility of π–π interactions.

Determination of the diffusion coefficient of protons in Nafion thin films by ac-electrogravimetry

This letter deals with an adaptation of the ac-electrogravimetry technique to extract separately the dynamic properties of H(+) and water in Nafion nanometric thin films (average thickness of 400 nm). An original theoretical approach was developed to extract the representative parameters from ac-electrogravimetry data. The concentration change of the exchanged species and the diffusion coefficient of the protons in a Nafion nanometric thin film (D = 0.5 × 10(-6) cm(2) s(-1) at 0.3 V vs SCE) were estimated for the first time according to the applied potential. The conductivity value of Nafion thin films was calculated from the Nernst-Einstein equation using diffusion coefficients and concentration values extracted from ac-electrogravimetry data. The calculated conductivity results agree well with the experimental proton conductivity values of Nafion thin films.