The introduction of sulfonic acid modified silica in Nafion nanocomposite membranes is a good method of improving the Nafion performance at high temperature and low relative humidity. Sulfonic acid-modified silica is bifunctional, with silica phase expected to offer an improvement in membranes hydration while sulfonic groups enhance proton conductivity. However, as discussed in this paper, this...

Modern fuel cell technologies use Nafion as the material of choice for proton exchange membrane (PEM) and binding (ionomer), used to assemble catalyst layers anode cathode. These applications demand high conductivity well other requirements. For example, PEM is expected block electrons, oxygen, hydrogen from penetrating diffusing while anode/cathode ionomer should allow hydrogen/oxygen move eas...

We perform an electrokinetic characterization of ~300 nm Nafion films deposited on glass slides over a relatively unexplored region of ionic strength and pH. Owing to the small pore size of the Nafion, we probe the Nafion-fluid interface with the streaming potential measurement, and we probe ionic transport through the entire thickness of the Nafion film with the conductivity measurements. By a...

The high mass transport caused by ultrasonic radiation in the preconcentration of trace metal species in anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV), leads to an order of magnitude enhancement in sensitivity. A Nafion-coated mercury thin-film working electrode is placed in a specially designed small-volume sonovoltammetric cell. The preparation and curing procedure for the Nafion film on a glassy carbon...

Direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) offer a high degree of design flexibility, ranging from single cell to massive multi-cell that can be used in various applications, including portable devices, transportation, and stationary applications. Unfortunately, the most significant barrier commercialization DEFCs is getting low-cost permeability, conductivity performance, extended durability polymer el...

Sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK) is categorized in a nonfluorinated aromatic hydrocarbon proton exchange membrane (PEM) group and considered as a suitable substitute for common per-fluorinated membranes, such as Nafion, due to wider operating temperature, less feed gas crossover, and lower cost. Since modeling results in a better understanding of a phenomenon, in this study a dynamic o...

Proton transfer in protonated Nafion fuel cell membranes is studied using several pyrene derivative photoacids. Proton transfer in the center of the Nafion nanoscopic water channels is probed with the highly charged photoacid 8-hydroxypyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate (HPTS). At high hydration levels, both the time-integrated fluorescence spectrum and the fluorescence kinetics of HPTS permit the determ...

This paper presents feedforward, feedback and two-degree-of-freedom control applied to an Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite (IPMC) actuator. It presents a high potential for development of miniature robots and biomedical devices and artificial muscles. We have reported in the last few years that dehydration treatment improves the electrical controllability of bending in Selemion CMV-based IPMCs. We...

A novel hybrid fuel cell is described using at least one electrode operating at high pH in an effort to use the high conductivity of Nafion and exploit the electrochemical advantages of high-pH operation. The electrochemical behavior of a hybrid anion exchange membrane (AEM)/proton exchange membrane (PEM) junction and corresponding fuel cell are presented. Two AEM/PEM junctions and fuel cells h...