Model studies of perfluorinated PEM membrane degradation

FUEL 188

David A. Schiraldi, das44@po.cwru.edu1, Chun Zhou, cxz20@cwru.edu1, and Thomas A. Zawodzinski Jr., taz5@po.cwru.edu2. (1) Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 2100 Adelbert Road, Cleveland, OH 44106-7202, (2) Department of Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, A.W. Smith Building, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-7217
Perfluorinated ionomers are the most commonly use polymers in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. These membranes are known to degrade while in use, losing fluoride ions in the aqueous fuel cell effluent stream, for example. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain how such PEM membranes degrade while in service. In order to better understand the chemical modes of membrane degradation, model compounds have been exposed to simulated fuel cell operating conditions, and their degradation products (and rate of degradation) have been studied.

This research was supported in part by the Department of Energy, Cooperative Agreement No. DE-FC36-03GO13098. DOE support does not constitute an endorsement by DOE of the views expressed in this article.

 

Fuel Cell Chemistry and Operation
9:00 AM-11:55 AM, Wednesday, 13 September 2006 Palace -- Gold Ballroom, Oral

Division of Fuel Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006