In polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), protons from the anode are transferred to the cathode through the ionomer membrane. By impregnating the ionomer into the electrodes, proton pathways are extended and high proton transfer efficiency can be achieved. Because the impregnated ionomer mechanically binds the catalysts within the electrode, the ionomer is also called a binder. To yield good electrochemical performance, the binder should be homogeneously dispersed in the electrode and maintain stable interfaces with other catalyst components and the membrane. However, conventional binder materials do not have good dispersion properties. In this study, a facile approach based on using a supercritical fluid is introduced to prepare a homogeneous nanoscale ...
The applicability and service time of polymer details working in various media are limited by the degradation of their physical and mechanical properties. From the structural point of view the weakest places strongly affected by ageing are the surface and boundary regions of the crystallites. If a material is subjected to high-strain deformation, it deforms permanently (plastic deformation) and ultimately fails. For sufficiently low stresses and strains, the polymeric material behaves as a linear elastic solid. The point where the behaviour starts to be non-linear is called the proportional limit. The local maximum in the stress-strain curve is called the yield point and indicates the permanent deformation. The corresponding stress and elongation are called ...
Over the last few years, the chances of creating new conducting polymers with the help of machine learning have caught the attention of many researchers in the field of chemistry. Now, a team of researchers has discovered a new kind of polymer which contains high thermal conductivity and can be beneficial to the 5G mobile communication technologies. Researcher Ryo Yoshida said that many aspects remain to be explored, such as “training” computational systems to work with limited data by adding more suitable descriptors. He added, “ML for polymer or soft material design is a challenging but promising field as these materials have properties that differ from metals and ceramics, and are not yet fully predicted by the existing theories.” This ...
