Modeling of ion conductivity in Nafion membranes

Abstract

A theoretical investigation was conducted to describe the ion transport behavior in a Nafion Membrane of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). By analyzing the surface energy configuration of the ionic clusters in a Nafion membrane, an equivalent field intensity, E_e, was introduced to facilitate the analysis of surface resistance against ion conduction in the central region of clusters. An expression was derived for ionic conductivity incorporating the influence of surface resistance. A face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice model for a spatial cluster distribution was used to modify the effect of water content on ionic conductivity in the polymeric matrix, i.e., the regions between clusters. Compared with the available empirical correlations, the new expression showed much better agreement with the available experimental results, which indicates the rationality to consider the structural influence on ion conduction in water-swollen Nafion membranes.