A modified Nafion dispersion for direct screen printing was developed and characterized. Commercial solution neutralized to its sodium form the solvent replaced by a screen-printing-compatible solvent. The has optimized rheological properties including shear-thinning behavior, thixotropy, moderate yield stress. elemental composition chemical states of were characterized X-ray photoelectron spec...

Various polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based ion-exchange films were prepared and thoroughly characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, proton conductivity, and water uptake for possible use as fuel cell membranes. Upon the increase in the flexibility of the PBI-based polymer films (e.g., poly(oxyphenylene benzimidazole) (OPBI) and sulfonated OPBI (s-OPBI)), the membranes exhibi...

A method of tethering a mediator to an enzymatic membrane was studied to construct a non-leaking mediated glucose biosensor. Ferrocene carboxylic acid and glucose oxidase were immobilized in a sol gel derived silica (SGS) matrix containing cross-linked poly (vinyl alcohol) (CLPVA) and Nafion. CLPVA was applied as a solid support due to the ability to form very homogenous films with high quality...

Nano SiO2 and MgO particles were incorporated into β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) scaffolds to improve the mechanical and biological properties. The porous cylindrical β-TCP scaffolds doped with 0.5 wt % SiO2, 1.0 wt % MgO, 0.5 wt % SiO2 + 1.0 wt % MgO were fabricated via selective laser sintering respectively and undoped β-TCP scaffold was also prepared as control. The phase composition and me...

The paper describes an EasyTest cell developed for simple, safe and inexpensive to run testing and optimisation of the active materials (catalysts, catalytic supports, polymer membrane electrolytes) and electrode structures utilized in PEM Fuel cells and Electrolysers. The main advantages of the new EasyTest technique are demonstrated by a comparative study on the performance of two types of me...

The interfacial shear strength between Si microwires and a Nafion membrane has been tailored through surface functionalization of the Si. Acidic (-COOH-terminated) or basic (-NH2-terminated) surface-bound functionality was introduced by hydrosilylation reactions to probe the interactions between the functionalized Si microwires and hydrophilic ionically charged sites in the Nafion polymeric sid...

1. Abstract Pt-Ru/C catalyst has been applied extensively in direct methanol fuel cells for methanol electrochemical oxidation. In this study, a model for electrochemical kinetics of methanol has been developed for electrocatalyst Pt-Ru/C. The single cell performance of DMFC and AC impedance analysis were measured. The methanol crossover problem still remains a challenge for the applications of...

An all-silicon in-plane micron-size electrically driven resonant cavity light emitting device (RCLED) based on slotted waveguide is proposed and modeled. The device consists of a microring resonator formed by Si/SiO2 slot-waveguide with a low-index electroluminescent material (erbium-doped SiO2) in the slot region. The geometry of the slot-waveguide permits the definition of a metal-oxide-semic...

First-principles calculations show that the electronic structure of graphene on SiO2 strongly depends on the surface polarity and interface geometry. Surface dangling bonds mediate the coupling to graphene and can induce hole or electron doping via charge transfer even in the absence of extrinsic impurities in substrate. In an interface geometry where graphene is weakly bonded to an O-polar sur...