I was in the need of some nafion membrane and found an old sheet in the lab. I think it's about 2-3 years old and has just been laying there in a ziploc bag. I tried using it in a microbial fuel cell but after autoclaving the membrane burst. Currently wondering whether the Nafion is no longer properly functioning or if something else went wrong. (Autoclaved once with double distilled water and once with medium)
I think this issue related to membrane ageing and so loss of its integrity
It is absolutely correct that quality/performance of materials deteriorates with time/ageing. If you interested to use old Nafion® membrane, firstly you should treated with double distilled water followed by 5 wt. % hydrogen peroxide and again with double distilled water to remove impurities.
Moreover, other reasons might be operating medium and conditions. Since, Nafion® membrane starts dehydration at high temperature (above 80 C). The dehydration of membrane give adverse effect in its proton conductivity and mechanical stability.
Hi Thessa,
I am not sure about nafion membrane but nafion solutions can aged after 2 months. It would be better to try with new membrane.
Also, autoclave works around 120 degree and Tg of nafion is around 100 degree. Probably it is not good idea to autoclave membrane.
You can check microbial fuel cell book and papers by B Logan. It will probably help you about prepration of membrane for MFC.
Ehsan
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