PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NAFION POWDERS FOR LOW-COST PEFC ELECTRODE PRODUCTION

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in cation conduc ting materials, as these are one of the promising concepts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC). In ongoing fuel cell research these ma terials are used either as a membrane or as a 5 wt.% solution in a mix ture of lower aliphatic alcohols. As part of the fuel cell research at the DLR, Nafion powder was prepared by grinding Nafion beads in a bal l mill under nitrogen cooling. The influence of different grinding par ameters and the cationic group of the polymer on the resulting powder was examined.