The effect of relative humidity on the gas permeability and swelling in PFSI membranes

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• 作者：J. Catalano¹ ; T. Myezwa ; M.G. De Angelis ; ^{grazia.deangelis@unibo.it} ; M. Giacinti Baschetti ; G.C. Sarti
• 关键词：PFSI membranes ; Ionomers ; Gas permeability ; Controlled humidity ; Water swelling ; Fuel cells
• 刊名：International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
• 出版年：2012
• 期刊代码：42_03603199
• 类别：ch
• 出版时间：April, 2012
• 卷：37
• 期：7
• 页码：6308-6316
• 文件大小：822 K

摘要

The permeation of helium, oxygen and nitrogen in perfluorosulphonic acid ionomeric (PFSI) membranes with short and long side chains, namely Aquivion^庐 and Nafion^庐 117, was studied in the relative humidity range between 0 and 90%, and at temperatures between 35聽掳C and 65聽掳C. The presence of humidity enhances, up to a factor of 100, the gas permeability in the membranes, due to the permeation of gas molecules in the hydrophilic domains: the enhancement is rather pronounced for O₂ and N₂, and less marked for He permeability. The relative permeability increase, P_gas/P_gas,0, shows a complex dependence on the relative humidity, as the water content in the membrane is itself a non linear function of this parameter. The water volume fraction in the membrane at each activity was accurately estimated from measurements of vapor-induced swelling, which indicate that the partial molar volume of water is smaller than its pure liquid value, in both membranes at 35聽掳C. When plotted against water volume fraction, the gas permeability increases exponentially in the range between 2%and 20%; the slope of the curve is higher for Nafion^庐 than for Aquivion^庐, as it is reasonable due to their different microstructures. The ideal selectivity of the two membranes for He over N₂, O₂ over N₂ and He over O₂, decreases markedly with increasing water content in the membrane.