OH- and water dynamics in Anionic Exchange Membranes (AEMs)

Over the past few decades, fuel cell research has grown exponentially with the continued development of new materials and systems for automotive and stationary applications. Most interest has focused on polymer electrolyte (both cation -CEM- and anion -AEM- exchange membranes) membrane fuel cells because of their power densities, lower cost and wider applications. Albeit intensive efforts have been made to develop and improve AEMs membranes, they still display poor ionic conductivity. This is also because, to date, very little is known on the relation between OH- transport and water dynamics. In this proposal, we want to investigate the OH- and water dynamics in a commercial AEM membrane by QENS in function of hydration and temperature with the final aim to unravel the transport basic mechanisms and with a view to advancing towardshelp designing advanced higher performance AEMs.