Project Title:

Proton Conducting Polymer Thin Films for Fuel Cell Applications

Professor G. Kane Jennings

Brief Description of Project:

The centerpiece of a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is the proton-conducting polymer film.   This film must rapidly transfer protons from the anode to the cathode without allowing crossover of gaseous reactants.  New architectures for PEM fuel cells that could greatly enhance their surface area and power density require that the proton conducting film be deposited within nanoporous templates.  Our group has developed a new type of proton-conducting polymer film that can be grown with nanometer control from virtually any surface.  We use ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) to grow poly(alkyl norbornene) films from a surface, followed by sulfonation to provide channels for proton transfer.  For the summer of 2008, we seek to expand our work to synthesize fluoroalkyl norbornenes to enable the growth of fluorocarbon polymers that can be sulfonated for improved proton conductivities and performance.  The undergraduate student will synthesize four of these fluoroalkyl norbornenes, learn to grow them into thin polymer films from surfaces, and characterize the structures, compositions, thicknesses, and proton conductivities of the resulting films.

Nature of Supervision:

one-on-one: faculty member, undergraduate, and one graduate student will all be involved in the overall project; student will have his/her own project and will report results to the graduate student and faculty member

A Brief Research Plan (period is for 10 weeks):

Week 1:           Safety training; learn basics of synthetic approach; read literature

Weeks 2-5:      Synthesize the four precursor molecules

Number of Open Slots:

1

Contact Information:

G. Kane Jennings
Professor of Chemical Engineering
kane.g.jennings@vanderbilt.edu