Emergence of nanotechnology has resulted in the introduction of the electrospinning process in fabricating and characterising the polymer electrolyte membrane from the sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) nanocomposite membrane comprised of electrospun Cloisite15A® (e-spun CL...

Proton conductive individual channels through a PVDF matrix have been designed using the ion track grafting technique. The chosen polyelectrolyte, a sulfonated polystyrene (PSSA), has been radiografted all along the linear and cylindrical ion tracks of irradiated PVDF leading to the creation of privileged paths for proton conduction from the anode to the cathode without inducing any further por...

An electrochemistry model was developed to analyse the J-V characteristics of a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) water electrolyser for hydrogen production. The Butler-Volmer equation and water transport characteristics through electrolyte membrane were employed to simulate the electrode activation overpotential and membrane ohmic overpotential, respectively. The modeling results are found to agr...

Potentiometric oxygen sensors with excellent sensitivity in a low concentration range are designed based on intrinsic logarithmic response characteristics, and an asymmetric electrode structure, differentiated from conventional reference gases or parts exposed to air, is implemented. Electrolytes materials that formulate sensor devices evaluated by comprehensively considering their reactivity t...

To understand the relationship between surface morphology and proton conduction of polymer electrolyte thin films, perfluorinated ionomer Nafion® thin films were prepared on different substrates such as glassy carbon (GC), hydrophilic-GC (H-GC), and platinum (Pt) as models for the ionomer film within a catalyst layer. Atomic force microscopy coupled with an electrochemical (e-AFM) technique rev...

Polymer electrolyte based fuel cells (PEFCs) are always in the forefront of fuel cell revolution. Recently a wide variety of application of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in PEFC components has been exploited. The impetus is to improve the PEFC performance by taking advantages of CNTs’ extraordinary physical, chemical and electronic properties. Herein, we briefly review these efforts with an attempt t...

A proton exchange (Nafion-117), a cation exchange (Ultrex CMI7000), an anion exchange (Fumasep FAD), and a bipolar (FumasepFBM) membrane have been studied to evaluate the principle suitability of ion exchange membranes as separators between the anode and the cathode compartment of biological fuel cells. The applicability of these membranes is severely affected by the neutral pH, and the usually...

Thesis director: Prof. Pascal Briois tel: +33 3 84 58 37 01 E-mail: [email protected] Thesis co-supervisor: Dr. Fei Gao tel: +33 3 84 58 38 01 E-mail: [email protected] CONTEXT: The fuel cell is seen as a potential energy conversion system in the future energy mix. Among the various types of fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has shown great interest in its use in stationa...