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SUMMARY:Modelling of polyelectrolyte thin films for fuel cell applications
  - Professor James Elliott (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20200824T084000Z
DTEND:20200824T091000Z
UID:TALK150484@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Joseph Nelson
DESCRIPTION:Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) electrolyte membranes\, such as 
 Nafion\, are widely employed in fuel cells\ndue to their high proton condu
 ctivity combined with excellent chemical and thermal stability. However\, 
 the\nstructure and ion transport properties of such materials differs mark
 edly from those of the bulk polymer\nwhen confined to thin films\, as comm
 only found in the catalyst layers of membrane-electrode assemblies\n(MEAs)
 . Furthermore\, the chemical nature of adsorbing substrate\, whether metal
  catalyst or carbon\nelectrode\, also has a large influence on the structu
 re and properties.\n\nIn this presentation\, I will present results from d
 ensity functional theory (DFT) and dissipative particle\ndynamics (DPD) si
 mulations of model MEA systems in which the distribution of water and ioni
 c groups at\nthe interface in nanoscopic channels are compared with those 
 in bulk membrane [1]. The results show\nthat the structure of thin (5-10 n
 m) layers of PFSA membranes is quite different to that in bulk\, and may\n
 play a key role in controlling performance of MEAs [2\,3]. In particular\,
  the surface coverage of sulfonic acid groups is examined as a function of
  substrate hydrophilicity\, hydration level and equivalent weight of\niono
 mer. The results demonstrate that the anomalously voltage losses that occu
 r at low catalyst loadings\nmay be due in part to reduced effectiveness of
  proton transport in the ionomer films.\n\n[1] J.A. Elliott\, D. Wu\, S.J.
  Paddison and R.B. Moore\, "Soft Matter\, *7*\, 6820-6827 (2011).":https:/
 /doi.org/10.1039/C1SM00002K\n\n[2] P. Vanya\, J. Sharman and J.A. Elliott\
 , "J. Chem. Phys.\, *147*\, 214904 (2017).":https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4996
 695\n\n[3] P. Vanya\, P. Crout\, J. Sharman and J.A. Elliott\, "Phys. Rev.
  E\, *98*\, 033310 (2018).":https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.98.033310 \n\
 n*This talk will be held online using Zoom. Please "register your email ad
 dress here":https://forms.gle/9Rpf2BekocwLpmHD9 to receive Zoom links via 
 email.*\n\n*Workshop website*: https://www.mtg.msm.cam.ac.uk/events/msm-ai
 mr-joint-online-workshop-2020
LOCATION:Online - Zoom
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