Test System For Through-Plane Conductivity Measurements of Hydrogen Proton Exchange Membranes

We present a simple test system for membrane through-plane conductivity measurements. In this design the catalyst layer is detached from the membrane and added to the gas diffusion electrode. Moreover, the humidifying gas is recycled after exiting the test cell making it more cost effective. To prove the test system applicability, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is used to determine the ionic conductivity of a model Nafion membrane at two different temperatures. Nyquist plots are used to analyze the impedance spectra. Equivalent circuit modeling of the EIS data is used to extract the Ohmic membrane resistance, which is in turn used to calculate the membrane ionic conductivity using self-developed fitting routines.