Inherent Acidity of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Ionomer Dispersions and Implications for Ink Aggregation

Berlinger, Sarah A.; McCloskey, Bryan D.; Weber, Adam Z.

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b06493

Title: Inherent Acidity of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Ionomer Dispersions and Implications for Ink Aggregation

Journal Article · Wed Jul 18 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b06493· OSTI ID:1471043

Berlinger, Sarah A. ^[1];

^[1];

^[2]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Technologies Area
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Technologies Area

Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) dispersions are used as components in a variety of electrochemical technologies, particularly in fuel-cell catalyst-layer inks. In this paper, we characterize dispersions of a common PFSA, Nafion, as well as inks of Nafion and carbon. It is shown that solvent choice affects a dispersion’s measured pH, which is found to scale linearly with Nafion loading. Dispersions in water-rich solvents are more acidic than those in propanol-rich solvents: a 90% water versus 30% water dispersion can have up to a 55% measured proton deviation. Furthermore, because electrostatic interactions are a function of pH, these differences affect how particles aggregate in solution. Finally, despite having different water contents, all inks studied demonstrate the same particle size and surface charge trends as a function of pH, thus providing insights into the relative influence of solvent and pH effects on these properties.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technologies Office; National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; DGE 1106400

OSTI ID:: 1471043

Journal Information:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. B, Condensed Matter, Materials, Surfaces, Interfaces and Biophysical Chemistry, Vol. 122, Issue 31; ISSN 1520-6106

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 54 works

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