Extrusion of Nafion and Aquivion membranes: environmentally friendly procedure and good conductivities

The paper deals with an alternative energy technology used for the development of perfluorinated polymer membranes for fuel cells. This study has the aim to show some results we obtained using mechanical, rheological, and morphological analyses to get detailed structural information of extruded Nafion and Aquivion membranes suitable for fuel cell applications. Chemical and structural changes before and after annealing have been carefully monitored in order to describe the mechanical and the conductivity properties. The behavior of extruding Nafion and Aquivion membranes was studied and compared with that of the commercial ones. This study illustrates an enhancement of conductivity and mechanical properties for the extruded Nafion and Aquivion membranes.