Ionomers for Electrochemical Devices

Ion-conducting polymers (Ionomers) are a central component to fuel cells and similar electrochemical energy conversion devices. Ionomer is present both as a bulk membrane, transporting protons from cathode to anode, as well as a thin film in the catalyst layers where it transports protons and gaseous species to reaction sites. We develop and utilize advanced characterization techniques to define structure-property relationships for these materials, in order to guide future material design and device optimization. Our characterization suite includes x-ray scattering, water sorption and mechanical testing, and conductivity measurements. Recent work has explored the effect of ionomer thin film structure under oxidizing and reducing environments. Furthermore, we have used ionomer thin films as model systems for grazing incidence x-ray scattering method development.

Recent Publications:

Tesfaye, Meron, Andrew N MacDonald, Peter J Dudenas, Ahmet Kusoglu, and Adam Z Weber. "Exploring substrate/ionomer interaction under oxidizing and reducing environments." Electrochemistry Communications 87 (2018) 86 - 90.

Tesfaye, Meron, Douglas I. Kushner, Bryan D. McCloskey, Adam Z. Weber, and Ahmet Kusoglu. "Thermal Transitions in Ionomer Thin-FIlms." ACS Macro Letters 2018 7 (10), 1237-1242