TY - JOUR
T1 - Reversible/irreversible increase in proton-conductive areas on proton-exchange-membrane surface by applying voltage using current-sensing atomic force microscope
AU - Hara, Masanori
AU - Daiki, Hattori
AU - Inukai, Junji
AU - Hara, Masaya
AU - Miyatake, Kenji
AU - Watanabe, Masahiro
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the project “Research on Nanotechnology for High Performance Fuel Cells (HiPer-FC)” from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan. Authors thank useful comments from Prof. Hiroyuki Uchida, University of Yamanashi.
PY - 2014/3/1
Y1 - 2014/3/1
N2 - By using a current-sensing atomic force microscope (CS-AFM) under a hydrogen atmosphere, microscopic proton-conductive areas on the membrane surface of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone ketone) block copolymer were investigated. With increasing the bias voltage during the CS-AFM scans, the number and the diameter of proton-conductive spots on the membrane surface continuously increased. Both reversible/irreversible changes in the proton-conductive area on the surface were found. The reversible change indicates that the proton-conductive paths are dynamically rearranged during the power generation in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The irreversible change might be related to the enhancement of the performance of the membrane electrode assemblies after being "conditioned" prior to the operation.
AB - By using a current-sensing atomic force microscope (CS-AFM) under a hydrogen atmosphere, microscopic proton-conductive areas on the membrane surface of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone ketone) block copolymer were investigated. With increasing the bias voltage during the CS-AFM scans, the number and the diameter of proton-conductive spots on the membrane surface continuously increased. Both reversible/irreversible changes in the proton-conductive area on the surface were found. The reversible change indicates that the proton-conductive paths are dynamically rearranged during the power generation in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. The irreversible change might be related to the enhancement of the performance of the membrane electrode assemblies after being "conditioned" prior to the operation.
KW - Conditioning
KW - Current-sensing atomic force microscope
KW - Proton exchange membrane
KW - Proton-conductive path
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jelechem.2013.11.035
DO - 10.1016/j.jelechem.2013.11.035
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84897976266
SN - 0022-0728
VL - 716
SP - 158
EP - 163
JO - Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
JF - Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
ER -