Des catalyseurs hétérogènes à base d'oxydes de manganèse associés aux dioxydes de titane, zirconium et cérium (Mn-Ti-O, Mn-Zr-O et Mn-Ce-O) ont été préparés par différentes voies de synthèse et évalués dans l'Oxydation en Voie Humide Catalytique (OVHC) de la méthylamine. Diverses voies de synthèse ont été explorées pour la préparation de ces catalyseurs, notamment une voie sol-gel mettant en oeuvre des copolymères à bloc, une voie de nanomoulage dans des moules de silice mésoporeuse et une voie solvothermale. L'insertion du manganèse a été réalisée de deux manières : soit ab initio dès le début de la synthèse, soit a posteriori par imprégnation d'un support préalablement formé avec un précurseur de manganèse. Des oxydes mixtes mésoporeux ou des oxydes de manganèse supportés sur des oxydes mésoporeux de Ti, Zr et Ce ont été réalisés. Si la texture de ces matériaux est relativement préservée, d'importantes ségrégations du manganèse ont parfois été observées après réaction. Ces catalyseurs ont été évalués dans l'OVHC de la méthylamine, une molécule organique azotée prise pour modèle. Ils sont tous actifs dans la dégradation de la méthylamine. Toutefois, ceux associant le manganèse au cérium sont les plus performants, devant les matériaux manganèse-zirconium et manganèse-titane. Deux voies de dégradation de la méthylamine ont été mises en évidence. Quel que soit le catalyseur, la première voie mène à la formation d'ions NH4 +, HCOO-, NO2 - et NO3 - présents en phase aqueuse. Les ions ammonium et formiates, formés en quantités équimolaires en tout début de réaction, sont des produits primaires de cette réaction. Les ions ammonium sont réfractaires à l'oxydation et s'accumulent dans le milieu réactionnel alors que les ions formiates sont complètement minéralisés en CO2 et H2O en fin de réaction. Nitrites et nitrates sont détectés à l'état de traces. La deuxième voie conduit directement et très majoritairement à N2 et CO2, sans qu'aucun autre composé ne soit détecté intermédiairement en phase liquide. Cette dernière voie peut représenter jusqu'à 50% de la dégradation de la méthylamine. En fin de réaction, la totalité de la fraction carbonée de la méthylamine a été minéralisée en CO2 et la sélectivité en diazote atteint jusqu'à 50% / Heterogeneous manganese based oxide associated to titanium, zirconium or cerium dioxide catalysts (Mn-Ti-O, Mn-Zr-O and Mn-Ce-O) were prepared using different synthesis route and evaluated in the Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (CWAO) of methylamine. Various synthesis routes were investigated to prepare the catalysts, especially the sol-gel method using block copolymers, the nano-casting approach in mesoporous silicate templates and the solvothermal synthesis. Introduction of manganese was achieved in two different ways: either ab initio, from the beginning of the synthesis or a posteriori via impregnation of the support with a manganese precursor. If the textural properties of these materials are almost unchanged after reaction, an important segregation of the manganese was sometime observed. These catalysts were evaluated in the CWAO of methylamine, a model nitrogen-containing organic molecule. All catalysts were active in the degradation of methylamine. However, those combining manganese and cerium were performing much better than the manganese-zirconium and manganese-titanium ones. Two degradation pathways were evidenced. Whatever the catalyst, the first degradation route led to the formation of NH4 +, HCOO-, NO2 - and NO3 - ions in the aqueous phase. Ammonium and formate ions were produced in equimolar amount at the beginning of the reaction and appeared as primary products. Ammonium ions were refractory toward further oxidation and accumulated in the reaction mixture, while formate ions were totally mineralized to CO2 and H2O by the end of the reaction. Nitrite and nitrate ions were detected in trace amount. The second pathway would directly and mainly lead to N2 and CO2, without any intermediate compound being detected in the liquid phase. This last pathway would account for 50% of the degradation of methylamine. At the end of the reaction, the carbon fraction in methylamine was totally mineralized to CO2 and the selectivity in molecular nitrogen reached up to 50%

Différents matériaux carbonés nanostructurés ont été synthétisés et mis en oeuvre comme matériaux supercapacitifs à double couche électrochimique (EDLC) ou comme substrats de matériaux pseudocapacitifs avec pour objectif d'augmenter leur densité de puissance. Nous avons ainsi développé une méthode de synthèse simple et originale de carbures de silicium (SiC) qui procède par une réduction topotactique d'un composite silice/carbon par le magnésium. Du fait de la température de synthèse inférieure à 800°C, SiC résultant conserve la morphologie et/ou la structure poreuse du précurseur composite. Par cette approche, nous pouvons moduler la structure poreuse ordonnée de SiC à façon, développer des porosités hiérarchiques méso/macro, préparer des feuillets ou des fibres de SiC. Les différentes formes de SiC ont été converties par chloration en autant de carbones, opération introduisant une microporosité supplémentaire. En électrolyte organique, ces carbones à porosité hierarchique combinent à la fois des capacités importantes issues de la microporosité mais également des performances inégalées en terme de puissance du fait de la méso ou macro-porosité associée. Dans une approche différente, des feuillet de graphène ont été décorés par voie sol-gel non-hydrolytique (micro-onde en milieu alcool benzilique) par des nanoparticules de FeOx. Le composite FeOx/graphene résultant combine simultanément les comportements EDLC et pseudocapacitif du graphène et de FeOx. Du fait de sa structure particulière, le composite FeOx/graphene conserve les performances en puissance du graphène auxquelles s'ajoutent celles d'énergie de FeOx. Nous avons également décoré des nanofibres de carbone avec des carbones mésoporeux. Après dépôt de MnO2 birnessite, les composites gagnent à la fois en capacité et en puissance en particulier avec des carbones présentant des pores supérieurs à 10nm. / Various nanostructured carbon materials were synthesized and further served as active materials of electrical double layer capacitor or substrates of pseudocapacitive materials in order to improve power capability of corresponding supercapacitor. On the one hand, a simple synthesis of porous silicon carbides (SiCs) was achieved by performing a topotactic thermal reduction by magnesium (Mg) of a silica/ carbon composite. Thanks to the low synthetic temperature (below 800 ºC), the SiCs well preserved the pristine skeletons of their silica/carbon precursors. Successively, the SiCs with diverse porous structures from their silica/carbon precursor emerged, e.g. ordered tunable mesoporous SiCs, 3D-hierarchical meso and macroporous SiC, SiC nanosheet and SiC nanofiber. Furthermore, the porous SiCs derived from magnesio-thermal reduction were reduced to hierarchical carbons with newborn narrow distributed microporosity by chlorination. In an organic electrolyte, the hierarchical carbon combines the high specific capacitance from narrow distributed microporosity and the outstanding rate capability from ordered-arranged meso or macroporosity that make it promising for high power and energy density capacitor. On the other hand, a “benzyl alcohol route” has been used to decorate RGO nanosheets with FeOx nanoparticles. The resulting FeOx/ RGO composite, due to their hybrid nanostructure, combine both EDLC capacitive and pseudocapacitive bahaviors of RGO and FeOx, respectively. Thanks to the laminated RGO and nano FeOx particles film, the resulting composite gains the same power capability as RGO and a higher energy density than raw FeOx. Furthermore, mesoporous carbon was introduced to adorn the CNF surface through self-assemble of resol, carbon nanofiber(CNF) and Pluronic@127. After further coating with birnessite-MnO2, the composite electrode gains extra capacitance and power improvement in presence of superficially coating mesoporous carbon with pore size larger than 10nm.

Este trabalho apresenta a preparação de filmes nanoestruturados de óxido de manganês e de vanádio por diferentes técnicas e a sua caracterização eletroquímica utilizando diferentes líquidos iônicos como eletrólito. Os filmes de óxido de manganês foram preparados por automontagem camada-por-camada e por eletrodeposição assistida por molde de nanoesferas de poliestireno. Os filmes de óxido de vanádio foram preparados também por automontagem camada-por-camada e por deposição eletroforética. Diversos aspectos relacionados ao uso dos líquidos iônicos como eletrólitos foram discutidos: os resultados obtidos para os filmes de óxido de manganês por automontagem camada-por-camada mostraram que os íons do líquido iônico participam do processo de compensação de carga superficialmente e que o cátion do líquido iônico, apesar de mais volumoso, apresenta coeficiente de difusão maior que o Li+, formando uma barreira à intercalação dos mesmos na estrutura do material. A partir dos resultados obtidos para os filmes de óxido de manganês por eletrodeposição assistida por nanoesferas de poliestireno, foi possível verificar que o desempenho do sistema depende da natureza do líquido iônico utilizado, sendo possível obter desempenho superior aos solventes orgânicos convencionais com um dos líquidos iônicos utilizados do ponto de vista da ciclabilidade. Desempenho superior aos eletrólitos convencionais também foi observado para os filmes de óxido de vanádio obtidos por automontagem camada-por-camada. Por fim, a caracterização eletroquímica em líquidos iônicos dos filmes de óxido de vanádio obtidos por deposição eletroforética mostrou que não apenas o uso de nanopartículas, mas também o modo de deposição das mesmas influencia no desempenho eletroquímico do sistema. De maneira geral, os resultados obtidos mostraram que o uso de filmes nanoestruturados e de líquidos iônicos como eletrólitos constituem alternativas promissoras para a obtenção de dispositivos de armazenamento e conversão de energia de alto desempenho e segurança. / This work presents the preparation of manganese and vanadium oxides nanostructured films by different techniques and their electrochemical characterization in different ionic liquids based electrolytes. Manganese oxide films have been prepared by self-assembly layer-by-layer and by electrodeposition assisted by polystyrene nanospheres template. Vanadium oxide films have been also prepared by self-assembly layer-by-layer deposition and by electrophoretic deposition. Several aspects related with the use of ionic liquids as electrolytes have been discussed: the obtained results from layer-by-layer deposition of manganese oxide have shown that ionic liquid ions also participate in the charge compensation process, but only superficially; in spite of ionic liquid cation been larger than Li+, it moves faster, achieving the electrode surface before, being a barrier for Li+ intercalation. From the results obtained for the manganese oxide prepared by template assisted electrodeposition, it was possible to notice that electrochemical performance is dependent on the ionic liquid structure, being possible to achieve higher performance than with conventional organic solvent electrolyte with one of the studied ionic liquid. Superior performance in comparison with conventional electrolyte has also been achieved for vanadium oxide films prepared by layer-by-layer deposition from the point of view of cyclability. Finally, the electrochemical characterization of vanadium oxide films prepared by electrophoretic deposition in ionic liquids has shown that not only the use of nanoparticles but also the deposition method employed influences the electrochemical performance. To conclude, the obtained results have shown that the use of nanostructured films and ionic liquids as electrolytes are promising alternatives for the obtention of high performance energy storage and conversion devices.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T20:42:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Graciela Aparecida Santos Silva.pdf: 4725206 bytes, checksum: 1b5275fc3c55802f9ed0465ffbc48d75 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-22 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The purpose of this work was the synthesis of nanoscaled BaO-Al2O3-MnO2 system and its characterization. The nanoparticulate system was prepared by mixing salts of Ba, Al and Mn in a chamber of low temperature, lyophilizing the solutions of their salts, and followed by calcination in the temperature range from 230 °C to 1190° C.This synthesis was compared with two other systems, prepared using a chemical mixture of oxides, with a particle size of conventional size and also with the phase of nanoscale oxides, followed by calcination in the same temperature conditions. The colorimetric properties of ceramic powders were evaluated by UV-visible spectroscopy and coordinates CIE-L a b and characterized by X-ray diffraction, Xray fluorescence, simultaneous thermal analyisis, scanning electron microscopy and laser scattering technique. This nanoscaled synthesis provides a possible application in the production on ceramic pigments because the resulting powder showed different color in comparison to the other systems. The nanoparticulate system showed the advantage of needing lower calcination temperatures, and, at 1135ºC,showed a different color that was not presented by powders synthetized by other methods. / A proposta deste trabalho consiste na síntese em nanoescala do sistema BaO-Al2O3-MnO2, bem como sua caracterização. O sistema nanoparticulado foi preparado misturando sais de Ba, Al e Mn em câmara de baixa temperatura, liofilizando-se assim as soluções dos respectivos sais, seguidos de calcinação na faixa de temperatura de 230 °C a 1190 °C. Comparou-se esta síntese com duas metodologias, preparadas através de uma mistura química de óxidos, com tamanho de partícula convencional e também com tamanho de fase dos óxidos em nanoescala, seguidas de calcinação nas mesmas condições de temperatura. Os pós cerâmicos foram avaliadas por espectroscopia no UV-visível e coordenadas CIE-L a b e caracterizado por difração raios X, fluorescência de raios X, termogravimetria e análise termodiferencial simultânea, microscopia eletrônica de varredura e espectroscopia de fotocorrelação. Essa síntese por nanoescala traz a possível aplicação na produção de pigmentos cerâmicos, pois trouxe alterações colorimétricas diferentes comparando com os outros sistemas. Esse método teve vantagem, pois trouxe temperaturas de calcinação mais baixa, e em 1135 ºC, o sistema nanoparticulado apresentou uma coloração que não foi observado para os outros métodos de síntese.

La forte progression démographique mondiale induit une demande d’énergietoujours en hausse. Ceci se traduit par un fort développement de nouvelles énergiesrenouvelables qui nécessitent, de par leur nature intermittente, des dispositifs de stockagede l’énergie. Parmi eux les supercondensateurs permettent un stockage électrostatique decharges (supercondensateurs à base de carbones activés), mais certains systèmes, ditspseudocapacitifs, font en outre intervenir des réactions redox rapides de surface.L’association des deux systèmes permettent d’accéder à des propriétés intéressantes, enparticulier pour le système MnO2/carbone activé. Cependant, les oxydes de manganèse sontd’excellents matériaux pseudocapacitifs mais assez peu conducteurs électroniques.L’objectif de ce travail est d’améliorer cette conductivité en les associant avec des oxydes decobalt conducteurs. Pour cela, une approche « architecturale » de synthèse de matériaux aété choisie. En partant d’oxydes de Mn et de Co lamellaires, ceux-ci sont exfoliés pourobtenir des nanofeuillets de nature différente. S’ensuit une étape de réempilement pouraboutir à un matériau lamellaire alterné. L’analyse structurale et morphologique desmatériaux prouve que des nanocomposites très finement divisés sont obtenus. Lespropriétés électrochimiques obtenues pour ces nanocomposites s’avèrent meilleures quecelles des matériaux initiaux, tant en densité d’énergie qu’en puissance. Cette stratégieoriginale est prometteuse et ouvre la voie à des réempilements de différente nature,notamment le graphène. / The ever increasing demand of renewable energies imposes, due to theirintermittent nature, the development of performant energy storage devices. Supercapacitorsare reliable devices that offer a high power density and numerous investigations are focusingon increasing their energy densities. In particular, asymmetric "metal oxides / activatedcarbons" supercapacitors are possible candidates. The MnO2/carbon system is the mostinvestigated system, due to its capability to work in aqueous medium at potentials up to 2 V,as well as to the low cost and environmental friendliness of manganese. Nevertheless, thissystem suffers from the poor electronic conductivity of manganese. This work reports anoriginal strategy for novel electrode materials involving exfoliation and restacking processesof lamellar “building blocks”: lamellar manganese oxides for their pseudocapacitiveproperties and lamellar cobalt oxyhydroxides for their high electronic conductivity. Thematerial engineering strategy focuses on the exfoliation of the lamellar materials intooligolamellae. The obtained suspensions are then restacked through various strategies andnew well defined mixed oxides are obtained. After structural and morphologicalcharacterization, it is clear that these nanocomposites present an intimate mix of the twoinitial phases. The electrochemical responses are hereby enhanced, proving the intertwinedrelationship between structure, morphology and properties. Furthermore, this architecturalapproach of building novel electrode materials is original and efficient and can easily betransposed to other “building blocks”, including graphene.

Cette thèse a pour but de caractériser le fonctionnement de supercondensateurs asymétriques composés de dioxyde de manganèse de structure birnessite et de carbone activé dans différents électrolytes. Les électrolytes aqueux neutres à base de sels inorganiques montrent les meilleures performances électrochimiques. La nature et la structure des cations et des anions du sel semblent impacter les performances électrochimiques et la stabilité de la structure du matériau d’oxyde de manganèse. Lors de cyclage en milieu aqueux avec de large de fenêtre de tension de fonctionnement appliquée, un mécanisme de dégradation du dispositif a été avancé tenant compte de la nature des anions ou des cations des sels utilisés. Quelques voies de modification du matériau MnO2, afin d’améliorer ces performances électrochimiques, ont été étudiés. Des électrolytes non aqueux originaux ont été également caractérisés et plus particulièrement, les solvants « Deep Eutectic » à base de N-méthylacétamide et de sels de Lithium. Ces derniers semblent prometteurs comme électrolytes pour des applications en température sur carbone activé ou matériaux d’insertion tels que le ferrophosphate de lithium. Cependant ils semblent non adaptés aux oxydes de manganèse, mais donnent de bons résultats en cyclage avec le carbone activé. / The aim of this thesis was to investigate the performances of asymmetric supercapacitors based on manganese dioxide (birnessite) and activated carbon electrode materials using various electrolytes. From this work, it appears that neutral aqueous electrolytes containing inorganic salts have the best electrochemical performances. Furthermore, the nature and the structure of both ions (cations and anions) in solution seem to impact strongly the electrochemical performances of the supercapacitors, as well as, the MnO2’s structure stability and affinity. In the case of aqueous-based electrolyte, a device degradation mechanism has been proposed as a function of salt ions structure and nature to further understand the supercapacitor’s life-cycling when a large potential window is applied. Some novel synthesis ways and/or modifications were investigated to further improve the electrochemical properties of MnO2 material. Additionaly, original non-aqueous electrolytes has been also formulated and then characterized, particularly the ‘Deep Eutectic’ Solvents, based on the N-methylacetamide mixed with a lithium salt. However, these electrolytes don’t have a good affinity with manganese oxide-based materials. Interestingly, these Deep Eutectic Solvents show good cycling results with activated carbon. In fact, these electrolytes seem to be promising for high temperature energy storage applications, especially using activated carbon or insertion electrode material like the lithium ferrophosphate.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d'améliorer les performances électrochimiques des dispositifs asymétriques C/MnO2 en formulant des oxydes de manganèse présentant des nano- ou mésostructures. Deux méthodes d’élaboration sont explorées. Le matériau mésoporeux est obtenu par réaction entre un agent structurant souple CTAP et divers alcènes A. L’impact des solutions colloïdales CTAP-A sur la texture et la microstructure de MnO2 a été étudié en proposant un modèle qui corrèle la dimension des agrégats avec le diamètre des pores de MnO2. Les performances du dispositif asymétrique sont aussi optimisées. Bien que l’emploi d’un agent structurant dur AAO n’ait pas permis d’élaborer directement un matériau d’électrode MnO2 performant, une microélectrode de MnO2 élaboré sur des nano-piliers de nickel électrodéposé sur AAO montre des propriétés électrochimiques concurrentes avec celles des microélectrodes actuelles. La bonne réponse en puissance élevée du dispositif asymétrique est due à l’excellente connexion entre les piliers et le matériau actif. Ce mémoire offre une meilleure compréhension sur la formation de MnO2 et présente des microélectrodes prometteuses pour les microsupercondensateurs. / The aim of this thesis is to improve the electrochemical performance of C/MnO2 asymmetric devices by elaborating manganese oxides exhibiting nano- or mesostructures. Two preparation methods are proposed. A mesoporous material is obtained through the reaction of soft template CTAP with various A alkenes. The effect of CTAP-A colloidal solution on MnO2 texture and microstructure has been studied by establishing the relationship between aggregates dimension and pore diameter. Asymmetric devices performances can be optimized this way. Attempts to employ AAO as hard template for developing a performant MnO2 electrode were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, a MnO2 microelectrode containing the oxide on nickel nanowires electrodeposited on AAO provided excellent electrochemical performances, comparable with current microsupercapacitor electrodes. Asymmetric device energy retention with increasing power is good due to the excellent MnO2/nickel nanowires connection. This thesis offers insights on the MnO2 formation and proposes promising microelectrodes for microsupercapacitors.

With the ever-advancing technology, there is an incessant need for reliable electrochemical energy storage (EES) components that can provide desired energy and power. At the forefront of EES systems are electrochemical capacitors (ECs), also known as supercapacitors that typically have higher power and superior cycle longevity but lower energy densities than their battery counterparts. One of the routes to achieve higher energy density for ECs is using the hybrid EC configuration, which typically utilizes a redox electrode coupled with a counter double-layer type electrode. In this dissertation, both scale-up (coin-cell type) as well as scale-down (on-chip miniaturized) hybrid ECs were designed, constructed and evaluated. The first part of the dissertation comprised material identification, syntheses, and electrochemical analyses. Lithium titanate-anatase titanium oxide (Li4Ti5O12-TiO2) composites were synthesized via electrostatic spray deposition (ESD) and characterized in both half-cell and full-cell assembly against lithium and nanostructured carbon based counter electrodes, respectively. The second redox type material studied for hybrid electrochemical capacitors was ESD derived manganese oxide (MnOx). The MnOx electrodes exhibited a high gravimetric capacitance of 225F g-1 in aqueous media. Further improvement in the rate handling of the MnOx electrodes was achieved by using CNT additives. The MnOx-CNT composites were tested in full-cell assembly against activated carbon counter electrodes and tested for different anode and cathode mass ratios in order to achieve the best energy-power tradeoff, which was the second major goal of the dissertation. The optimized hybrid capacitor was able to deliver a high specific energy density of 30.3 Wh kg-1 and a maximal power density of 4kW kg-1. The last part of the dissertation focused on a scale-down miniaturized hybrid microsupercapacitor; an interdigitated electrode design was adopted in order to shorten the ion-transport pathway, and MnOx and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were chosen as the redox and double layer components, respectively. The hybrid microsupercapacitor was able to deliver a high stack energy density of 1.02 mWh cm-3 and a maximal stack power density of 3.44 W cm-3, both of which are comparable with thin-film batteries and commercial supercapacitor in terms of volumetric energy and power densities.

The aim of the project was to establish rate and mechanisms of solid state reduction of manganese ores. The project studied carbothermal reduction of manganese oxide MnO, two Groote Eylandt (Australian) and Wessels (South African) manganese ores in hydrogen, helium and argon atmospheres at temperatures up to 1400C for MnO and 1200C for manganese ores. Experiments were conducted in the fixed bed reactor with on-line off-gas analysis. The major findings are as follows. ?? Rate and degree of reduction of MnO and ores increased with increasing temperature. ?? Reduction of MnO and manganese ores at temperatures up to 1200C was faster in helium than in argon, and much faster in hydrogen than in helium. The difference in MnO reduction in hydrogen and helium decreased with increasing temperature to 1400C. ?? Addition of up to 7 vol% of carbon monoxide to hydrogen had no effect on MnO reduction at 1200C. ?? In the process of carbothermal reduction of ores in hydrogen at 1200C, silica was reduced. ?? Reduction of both GE ores was slower than of Wessels ore. This was attributed to high content of iron oxide in the Wessels ore. ?? Carbon content in the graphite-ore mixture had a strong effect on phases formed in the process of reduction; thus, in the reduction of Wessels ore with 12-16 wt% C, a-Mn and Mn23C6 were formed; when carbon content was above 20 wt%, oxides were reduced to carbide (Mn,Fe)7C3. ?? Kinetic analysis showed that mass transfer of intermediate CO2 from oxide to graphite in carbothermal reduction in inert atmosphere was a contributing factor in the rate control. ?? High rate of reduction of manganese oxide in hydrogen was attributed to formation of methane which facilitated mass transfer of carbon from graphite to oxide. Hydrogen was also directly involved in reduction of manganese ore reducing iron oxides to metallic iron and higher manganese oxides to MnO. Reduction of Wessels and Groote Eyland Premium Fines ores in the solid state is feasible at temperatures up to 1200C; while temperature for solid state reduction of Groote Eyland Premium Sands is limited by 1100C.

<p>Proton exchange membrane fuel cells and lithium polymer batteries are important as future power sources in electronic devices, vehicles and stationary applications. The development of these power sources involves finding and characterising materials that are well suited r the application.</p><p>The materials investigated in this thesis are the perfluorosulphonic ionomer Nafion^TM(DuPont) and metal oxides incorporated into the membrane form of this material. The ionomer is used as polymer electrolyte in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and the metal oxides are used as cathode materials in lithium polymer batters (LPB).</p><p>Crystallinity in cast Nafion films can be introduced by ion beam exposure or aging. Spectroscopic investigations of the crystallinity of the ionomer indicate that the crystalline regions contain less water than amorphous regions and this could in part explain the drying out of the polymer electrolyte membrane in a PEMFC.</p><p>Spectroscopic results on the equilibrated water uptake and the state of water in thin cast ionomer films indicate that there is a full proton transfer from the sulphonic acid group in the ionomer when there is one water molecule per sulphonate group.</p><p>The LPB cathode materials, lithium manganese oxide and lithium cobalt oxide, were incorporated <i>in situ</i> in Nafion membranes. Other manganese oxides and cobalt oxides were incorporated <i>in situ</i> inside the membrane. Ion-exchange experiments from HcoO₂to LiCoO₂within the membrane were also successful.</p><p>Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were used for the characterisation of the incorporated species and the Nafion film/membrane.</p>