Surface modified Nafion® membrane by ion beam bombardment for fuel cell applications

Low energy plasma treatment of Nafion® membranes for PEM fuel cells

“…It is clear that the poor performance of the remaining membranes occurs due to a combination of a reduced proton conductivity and poor adhesion between electrode and membrane and that this is due to the plasma treatment and not the preparation of the membrane or the result of storage under vacuum. These results are again different to Cho et al [6] who found an increase from 300 to 620 mW cm −2 when using ion bombarded Nafion in their MEAs. Our results could however explain the 'drastic' increase in performance Cha and Lee [13] observed when they first coated their Nafion membrane with a Nafion/carbon ink (NCI) prior to catalyst sputtering.…”

“…The reduction in contact angle and unchanged surface roughness as a function of increasing energy dose is markedly different from the results obtained by Cho et al [6]. They used significantly higher energy doses with ion fluxes ranging from 1 × 10 15 to 1 × 10 17 ions cm −2 at 1 keV and found that measured contact angles actually increased with energy dose and gave a reference value of 80 • .…”

“…fuel cell performance [2][3][4][5][6]. The use of plasma based technology in the development of fuel cell electrodes as well as membranes has contributed to this increase while at the same time reducing production costs by lowering catalyst loadings [7][8][9][10][11][12].…”

“…Cho et al [6] reported that roughening the surface with ion bombardment increased the maximum power density of a single cell operating on hydrogen and oxygen. This was attributed to the larger contact area between the membrane, catalyst and reactants.…”

Development of sulfonated FEP–Nafion hybrid proton exchange membranes for PEFC

“…The low cell performance should have been caused by a poor interface between the PEM and electrodes because chemical reaction takes place between catalysts and a PEM in hydrogen or oxygen [7]. Thus, by improving the interface between the PEM and electrodes, catalysts should be used more effectively to attain high cell performance.…”