Oxygen and hydrogen permeation properties and water uptake of Nafion(R) 117 membrane and recast film for PEM fuel cell

Oxygen and hydrogen permeability through Nafion(R) 117 membrane and recast Nafion film has been studied by means of gas chromatography at different values of temperature and gas relative humidity. Water uptake from the vapour phase by Nafion(R) 117 membrane and recast film has been investigated. It has been shown that oxygen and hydrogen permeability increases both with temperature and relative humidity of the gas, but water vapour uptake by both Nafion 117 membrane and recast film decreased with increasing temperature. SEM studies have been performed on the membrane-electrode assembly obtained by impregnation/hot-pressing and on carbon/Nafion(R) composite; these have indicated that the active catalyst layer is porous with channels for the gas transport.