Highly hydrated Nafion/activated carbon hybrids

Chien, Hung-Chung, Tsai, Li-Duan, Kelarakis, Antonios orcid iconORCID: 0000-0002-8112-5176, Lai, Chien-Ming, Lin, Jiunn-Nan, Fang, Jason, Zhu, Chao-Yuan and Chang, Feng-Chih (2012) Highly hydrated Nafion/activated carbon hybrids. Polymer, 53 (22). pp. 4927-4930. ISSN 00323861

[thumbnail of Publisher's post-print for classroom teaching and internal training purposes at UCLan] PDF (Publisher's post-print for classroom teaching and internal training purposes at UCLan) - Published Version
Restricted to Registered users only

618kB

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2012.08.061

Abstract

The incorporation of highly porous activated carbon (aC) to Nafion membranes confers unprecedented levels of water uptake (4 times higher for 10 wt% aC compared to neat Nafion) at a minimal dimensional swelling and results in dramatic enhancements in ionic conductivity at low relative humidity. This behavior reveals the development of a robust network of water nanochannels formed by the carbon pores and the polymeric ionic domains which are structurally stabilized by the rigid Nafion backbone and the non-deformable aC particles.


Repository Staff Only: item control page