ABSTRACT
Anion exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cells (AEMFCs) are a promising cost-effective alternative energy conversion technology because of the potential implementation of earth-abundant catalysts, obviating the need for precious metals. AEMs, however, have low conductivity and suffer from poor stability. The conductivity of the AEM is inherently tied to the complex phase-separated morphology, as its dependence on the hydration level is not well understood. In this report, we employ phase-contrast tapping mode and conductive-probe atomic force microscopy (cp-AFM) to study the nanoscale surface morphology and hydroxide conductance of a commercially available quaternary ammonium (QA) AEM by FuMA-Tech GmbH (Fumapem FAA-3). The chemical structure of FAA-3 consists of a poly(phenylene oxide) backbone with QA functionality. The morphology of FAA-3 was observed in the bromide (FAA-3-Br-) and hydroxide form (FAA-3-OH-) in dehydrated and hydrated conditions. Under dehydrated conditions, both membranes showed no phase contrast, indicating the absence of phase-separated hydrophilic domains at the surface. At hydrated conditions, FAA-3-Br- shows randomly dispersed isolated clusters, while FAA-3-OH- shows elongated fibrillar structures extending microns in length. cp-AFM of hydrated FAA-3-OH- showed that these elongated regions were insulating. These results provide morphological evidence for the conduction of hydroxide at the surface and its dependence on the hydration level.
ABSTRACT
Channel connectivity is an important material property that is considered in making higher-performance proton-exchange membranes. Our group has previously demonstrated that nearly 50% of the aqueous surface domains in Nafion films do not have a connected path to the opposite side of the membrane. These so-called "dead-end" channels lead to a loss in the conductance efficiency of the membrane. Understanding the structure of these dead-end channels is an important step in improving the conductance of the membrane. Although conductive atomic force microscopy is able to provide insight into the connected channels, it does directly report on the dead-end channels. To address this, we use electrostatic force microscopy (EFM) to probe channel connectivity in a Nafion thin film (100-300 nm) under ambient conditions. EFM provided an image of the capacitive phase shift, which is influenced by surface charge, dielectric permittivity, and tip-sample geometry. We studied several individual channels and measured the quadratic dependence of the EFM signal with the bias voltage. Applying a simple parallel plate model allowed us to assign differences in the EFM signal to particular channel shapes: connected cylindrical channels, dead-end cylinder channels, and bottleneck channels.
ABSTRACT
In this report, we employ phase-contrast tapping mode and conductive probe atomic force microscopy (cp-AFM) as tools to investigate the nanoscale morphology and proton conductance of a 3M perfluoro-imide acid (PFIA) membrane (625 EW) over a large range of relative humidity (3-95% RH). As a point of comparison, we also investigate 3M perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) (825 EW) and Nafion 212. With AFM, we assess the membrane's water retention and mechanical stability at low RH and high RH, respectively. Cp-AFM allows us to spatially resolve the hydrophilic and electrochemically active domains under a similar set of conditions and observe directly the ties between membrane morphology and proton conductance. From our data, we are able to correlate the improved water retention indicated by the size of the hydrophilic domains with the proton conductance in the PFIA membrane at elevated temperature and compare the result with that observed for the PFSA and Nafion. At high RH conditions, we see evidence of a nearly continuous hydrophilic phase, which indicates a high degree of swelling.
ABSTRACT
Combined Kelvin probe force microscopy and wavelength-resolved photoluminescence measurements on individual pre- and post-cross-linked poly(3-hexylthiophene)-b-poly(3-methyl alcohol thiophene) (P3HT-b-P3MT) nanofibers have revealed striking differences in their optical and electronic properties driven by structural perturbation of the crystalline aggregate nanofiber structures after cross-linking. Chemical cross-linking from diblock copolymer P3HT-b-P3MT using a hexamethylene diisocyanate cross-linker produces a variety of morphologies including very small nanowires, nanofiber bundles, nanoribbons, and sheets, whose relative abundance can be controlled by reaction time and cross-linker concentration. While the different cross-linked morphologies have almost identical photophysical characteristics, KPFM measurements show that the surface potential contrast, related to the work function of the sample, depends sensitively on nanostructure morphology related to chain-packing disorder.
ABSTRACT
We report wavelength and time-resolved photoluminescence studies of isolated extended (1-10 µm length) poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofibers (xNFs) cast on glass from suspension. The PL spectra of xNFs show multiple vibronic replicas that appear to be associated with the existence of both H- and J-type aggregates. The PL spectra of xNFs made from regioregular (rr)- (93%) and highly regioregular (hrr)-P3HT (98%) both show similarities in PL spectra suggestive of common chain packing features, as well as subtle differences that can be attributed to higher long-range order in the hrr-xNFs. Specifically, PL spectral measurements on isolated xNFs made from highly regioregular (>98%) P3HT showed a red-shifted electronic origin (≈30 meV) and increased 0-0/0-1 PL intensity ratio for the J-type species, suggestive of enhanced structural coherence length and intrachain order.
