Towards a NMR-Based Method for Characterizing the Degradation of Nafion XL Membranes for PEMFC

PFSA-based reinforced membranes are used today as the benchmark material for the electrolyte in PEMFCs. Although greatly improved relatively to their unreinforced version, they still suffer from aging and degradation during fuel cell (FC) operation. In this study we first performed proton NMR to cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the Electrochemical Society 2018-01, Vol.165 (6), p.F3209-F3216
Main Authors: Robert, Mylène, Kaddouri, Assma El, Perrin, Jean-Christophe, Leclerc, Sébastien, Lottin, Olivier
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical Sciences
Engineering Sciences
Fluids mechanics
Mechanics
or physical chemistry
Theoretical and
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Summary:PFSA-based reinforced membranes are used today as the benchmark material for the electrolyte in PEMFCs. Although greatly improved relatively to their unreinforced version, they still suffer from aging and degradation during fuel cell (FC) operation. In this study we first performed proton NMR to characterize the different water populations in the pristine Nafion XL reinforced membrane. Then we used proton and fluorine NMR, FTIR and sorption measurements in order to qualitatively observe the differences induced in the membrane's chemical structure and properties by long term FC operation. Proton NMR is seen to be an adapted tool to quickly measure a signature that is correlated to the degradation state while FTIR can serve as a local probe of the chemical structure.
ISSN:0013-4651
1945-7111
DOI:10.1149/2.0231806jes