Measuring oxygen, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide diffusion coefficient and solubility in Nafion membranes

A Devanathan–Stachurski type diffusion cell made from a fuel cell assembly is designed to evaluate the gas transport properties of a proton exchange membrane as a function of cell temperature and gas pressure. Data obtained on this cell using the electrochemical monitoring technique (EMT) is used to estimate solubility and diffusion coefficient of oxygen (O2), carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in Nafion membranes. Membrane swelling and reverse-gas diffusion due to water flux are accounted for in the parameter estimation procedure. Permeability of all three gases was found to increase with temperature. The estimated activation energies for O2, CO and H2S diffusion in Nafion 112 are 12.58, 20 and 8.85 kJ mol−1, respectively. The estimated enthalpies of mixing for O2, CO and H2S in Nafion 112 are 5.88, 3.74 and 7.61 kJ mol−1, respectively. An extensive comparison of transport properties estimated in this study to those reported in the literature suggests good agreement. Oxygen permeability in Nafion 117 was measured as a function of gas pressures between 1 and 3 atm. Oxygen diffusion coefficient in Nafion 117 is invariant with pressure and the solubility increases with pressure and obeys Henry's law. The estimated Henry's constant is 3.5 × 103 atm.