To measure in-plane conductivity of Nafion membrane with general electrochemical approach

Abstract

It is important to measure in-plane conductivity of Nafion membrane for fuel cell, but this target is generally inhibited by measuring system with heterogeneous interfaces and immature electrochemical measurements. This paper simply used water media to establish stable measuring system with metal electrode and Nafion membrane, representing system as equivalent circuit. Our equivalent circuit was validated by both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, also clarified connection and difference in two measurements. This electrochemistry breakthrough helps realize measuring system completely and reliably even under successive temperature cycles, providing circuit elements for kinetic analysis in contact resistance, in-plane conductivity, inactive and active proton. We also clarified that the inactive and active proton shift can dictate low frequency inductance, which is an important sign for active and stable operation in fuel cell, secondary battery and materials. All these results can induce enormous progress in multi-disciplines, making our work have great significance and broad impact for future studies.