Effect of various concentration of sulfuric acid for Nafion membrane activation on the performance of fuel cell

This work proposes an activation treatment to Nafion 117 membrane with sulfuric acid in various concentrations. The main goal of this study is to increase the Nafion 117 membrane performance, which is determined by proton number in the membrane and membrane performance in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC). This work was developed using sulfuric acids in four different concentrations: 1, 2, 3, and 4 M. The surface morphology and functional groups of activated membranes were studied using Scanning Electron Microscope and Fourier Transform Infrared, respectively. The proton number absorbed in membranes was observed by gravimetric measurements. The performances of activated membranes in PEMFC were studied by single cell measurements with H2/O2 operation. The experimental results showed that activation of Nafion membrane did not change its surface morphology and functional groups. The proton number increased when the concentration of sulfuric acid is increased from 1 to 3 M and from 1 to 4 M. On the other hand, there is no significant increase when the concentration of sulfuric acid was increased from 1 to 2 M. Similar trends were observed when testing activated membrane performance in PEMFC, especially for current density at 0.6 V and maximum power. It is assumed that there is a correlation between the increase of sulfuric acid concentration in activation process with the increase of proton number in the membrane that are available for facilitating of transfer protons from the anode to the cathode.