Ion Transfer Across Fuel Cell Membranes Chaffin Ross Whitefish High School Independent Study

Interest ●Earth Science Energy Unit ●Chemistry ●Space Station

Background ●What is a hydrogen fuel cell? ●How does a fuel cell work? ●What is the membranes function in a fuel cell?

Proton Exchange Membrane ●Chemical Energy = Electrical Energy ●H 2 2H + + 2e - ●Protons permeate through ●Electrons travel along load circuit

Question/ Hypothesis ●How does temperature affect the ion transfer across fuel cell membranes? ●Lower at degrees ●Higher at temperatures degrees

Procedure ●Independent Variable: Temperature ●Dependent Variable: Ion Transfer (Conductance in µS/cm) ●Controls: Membrane, Solutions

Ion Size

Data: Trial 1 (0.5 M NaCl)

Data: Trial 2 (0.5 M NaCl)

Data: Trial 3 (1 M NaCl)

Data: Trial 4 (0.5 M KCL)

Data: Trial 5 (1 M KCL)

Data: Trial 6 (0.5 M ZnCl2)

Data: Trial 7 (1 M ZnCl2)

Implications ●High Temperature Usage ●Low Temperature Usage ●Membrane Durability

Improvements ●Steady/same temperature ●Use different membranes ●Different Solutions

Acknowledgements ●Paula Kosted ●Derek Tarrant ●ViZn Energy ●Todd Spangler

Resources ● Son, D. N., and H. Kasai. "Proton Transport through Aqueous Nafion Membrane." The European Physical Journal E 29.4 (2009): Print. ● Liu, Wen, Kathy Ruth, and Greg Rusch. "Membrane Durability in PEM Fuel Cells." Journal of New Materials for Materials for Electrochemical Systems 4 (n.d.): n. pag. Print. ● Faulk, Michael. "An Infrared Study of Water in Perfluorosulfonate (Nafion) Membranes." Atlantic Regional Laboratory. N.p.: n.p., Print.