Influence of the Nafion agglomerate morphology on the water-uptake behavior and fuel cell performance in the proton exchange membrane fuel cells

In the preparation of catalyst ink for proton exchange membrane fuel cell, the dispersing solvent has significant influence on the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of catalyst layer (CL), primarily due to the variation of the Nafion ionomer mobility. In this work, based on the Nafion m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied surface science 2019-07, Vol.481, p.777-784
Main Authors: Kim, Tae-Hyun, Yoo, Jung Hun, Maiyalagan, T., Yi, Sung-Chul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catalyst layer
Nafion mobility
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell
Solvent effect
Water uptake
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Summary:In the preparation of catalyst ink for proton exchange membrane fuel cell, the dispersing solvent has significant influence on the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of catalyst layer (CL), primarily due to the variation of the Nafion ionomer mobility. In this work, based on the Nafion mobility, the effect of solvent on water uptake (WU) behavior in the CL was investigated with respect to different solvents. To vary main- and side-chain mobilities of the Nafion ionomers, we consider different solvents such as glycerol, propylene glycol (PG), isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP). Experimental results demonstrated that the NMP CL showed the highest WU at 90% relative humidity, presenting 1.23, 1.27, and 1.28 times higher than that of the glycerol, PG, and IPA CL, respectively. Furthermore, the microstructure and phase images of the CLs revealed that the main-chain mobility governs the clustering behaviors among the Nafion agglomerates, whereas the side-chain mobility determines the ion-clustering behavior within the Nafion agglomerate. From the electrochemical performances, it was observed that the main- and side-chain mobility are related to the electrochemically active area and the proton-conduction pathway, respectively. [Display omitted] •Both main- and side-chain mobilities of the Nafion were varied by different solvents.•The mobilities of both main and side chain affect the catalyst layer morphology.•The highly phase-separated catalyst layer improved the water-uptake behavior.•The electrochemical properties were closely related to the Nafion mobilities.
ISSN:0169-4332
1873-5584
DOI:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.03.113