Electrospun Anion-Conducting Ionomer Fibers-Effect of Humidity on Final Properties

Manar Halabi; Meirav Mann-Lahav; Vadim Beilin; Gennady E Shter; Oren Elishav; Gideon S Grader; Dario R Dekel

doi:10.3390/polym12051020

Electrospun Anion-Conducting Ionomer Fibers-Effect of Humidity on Final Properties

Polymers (Basel). 2020 May 1;12(5):1020. doi: 10.3390/polym12051020.

Authors

Manar Halabi¹, Meirav Mann-Lahav¹, Vadim Beilin¹, Gennady E Shter¹, Oren Elishav^{1

2}, Gideon S Grader^{1

2}, Dario R Dekel^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ The Wolfson Department of Chemical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.
² The Nancy & Stephan Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP), Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 3200003, Israel.

Abstract

Anion-conducting ionomer-based nanofibers mats are prepared by electrospinning (ES) technique. Depending on the relative humidity (RH) during the ES process (RH_ES), ionomer nanofibers with different morphologies are obtained. The effect of relative humidity on the ionomer nanofibers morphology, ionic conductivity, and water uptake (WU) is studied. A branching effect in the ES fibers found to occur mostly at RH_ES < 30% is discussed. The anion conductivity and WU of the ionomer electrospun mats prepared at the lowest RH_ES are found to be higher than in those prepared at higher RH_ES. This effect can be ascribed to the large diameter of the ionomer fibers, which have a higher WU. Understanding the effect of RH during the ES process on ionomer-based fibers' properties is critical for the preparation of electrospun fiber mats for specific applications, such as electrochemical devices.

Keywords: electrospinning; fibrous morphology; ionomer; polymer fibers; relative humidity.

Abstract

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