Excellent transparent films were prepared from bacterial cellulose (BC) sheets by solubilization of its defibrillated freeze-dried specimens in a solvent of dimethylacetamide (DMAc) containing 8.0% (w/w) lithium chloride (LiCl), and their properties were compared with those of the native BC. Fibrillar structure of the native BC disappeared after dissolution, and the film formed after dissolution also loose this structure. Occurence of structural transformation from crystalline to amorphous state was also evidenced by X-ray diffraction, solid state cross polarization/magic angle spinning 13 C-NMR and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analyses. In addition, excellent 3D uniform structure of the transparent BC film was further evidenced by X-ray micro computed tomography. Plastic-like characteristic was enhanced by film formation after dissolving the BC specimens in the DMAc-LiCl solution as shown by changing mechanical properties, a slight decrease in tensile strength (67.2 to 59.6 MPa) and breaking stress (67.2 to 58.4 MPa) but significant increase in elongation at break from 3.4 to 10.5%, and improvement of work of fracture from 5.8 to 21.2 kJ/m 2 .

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Abstract. This work proposes an activation treatment to Nafion 117 membrane with sulfuric acid in various concentrations. The main goal of this study is to increase the Nafion 117 membrane performance, which is determined by proton number in the membrane and membrane performance in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). This work was developed using sulfuric acids in four different concentrations: 1, 2, 3, and 4 M. The surface morphology and functional groups of activated membranes were studied using Scanning Electron Microscope and Fourier Transform Infrared, respectively. The proton number absorbed in membranes was observed by gravimetric measurements. The performances of activated membranes in PEMFC were studied by single cell measurements with H 2 /O 2 operation. The experimental results showed that activation of Nafion membrane did not change its surface morphology and functional groups. The proton number increased when the concentration of sulfuric acid is increased from 1 to 3 M and from 1 to 4 M. On the other hand, there is no significant increase when the concentration of sulfuric acid was increased from 1 to 2 M. Similar trends were observed when testing activated membrane performance in PEMFC, especially for current density at 0.6 V and maximum power. It is assumed that there is a correlation between the increase of sulfuric acid concentration in activation process with the increase of proton number in the membrane that are available for facilitating of transfer protons from the anode to the cathode.

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