Aliphatic Anion Exchange Ionomers with Long Spacers and No Ether Links by Ziegler–Natta Polymerization: Properties and Alkaline Stability

In this work we report the synthesis of poly(vinylbenzylchloride-co-hexene) copolymer grafted with N,N-dimethylhexylammonium groups to study the effect of an aliphatic backbone without ether linkage on the ionomer properties. The copolymerization was achieved by the Ziegler–Natta method, employing the complex ZrCl4 (THF)2 as a catalyst. A certain degree of crosslinking with N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) was introduced with the aim of avoiding excessive swelling in water. The resulting anion exchange polymers were characterized by 1H-NMR, FTIR, TGA, and ion exchange capacity (IEC) measurements. The ionomers showed good alkaline stability; after 72 h of treatment in 2 M KOH at 80 °C the remaining IEC of 76% confirms that ionomers without ether bonds are less sensitive to a SN2 attack and suggests the possibility of their use as a binder in a fuel cell electrode formulation. The ionomers were also blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and crosslinked with glutaraldehyde. The water uptake of the blend membranes was around 110% at 25 °C. The ionic conductivity at 25 °C in the OH− form was 29.5 mS/cm.

A parametric analysis of thermodynamic losses in an anode of a solid oxide fuel cell

In this paper, generation of thermodynamic losses in the micro-channels of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell electrode is discussed. Diffusive-convective equation is implemented to compute local concentrations of reagents. The model accounts for both the Fick’s, and the Knudsen’s diffusion. For a number of cases the total losses are decomposed to isolate the contributions of the diffusion, the current conduction, and the chemical reaction irreversibilities.

A novel microbial fuel cell electrode design: prototyping a self-standing one-step bacteria-encapsulating bioanode with electrospinning

In this study, the electrospinning technique is shown to be a viable method for the synthesis of a bacteria-encapsulating bioanode. A coaxial set-up was designed to yield in one step...