Fundamental understanding of water transport and morphology is critical for improving ion conductivity in polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs). Herein, we present comprehensive water transport measurements comparing anion-exchange membranes (AEMs) based on ammonium-functionalized poly(phenylene oxide) and cation-exchange membranes (CEMs) based on sulfonated poly(ether sulfone). We investigate the influence of counter ions, alkyl side chain, and degree of functionalization on water transport in AEMs and CEMs using pulsed-field-gradient (PFG) NMR diffusometry. Water diffusion in both AEMs and CEMs exhibit specific trends as a function of water uptake (wt%), indicating morphological similarities across common chemical structures. Furthermore, restricted diffusion reveals micron-scale heterogeneity of the hydrophilic network in both CEMs and AEMs. We propose a model wherein the hydrophilic network in these membranes has micron-scale distributions of local nm-scale dead ends, leading to changes in tortuosity as a function of water content, counterion type, and polymer structure. We furthermore parse tortuosity into two regimes, corresponding to nm-to-bulk and µm-to-bulk ranges, which reveal the importance of multi-scale morphological structures that influence bulk transport. This study provides new insights into polymer membrane morphology from nm to µm scales with the ultimate goal of controlling polymeric materials for enhanced fuel cells and other separations applications / MS / Using clean energy in place of fossil fuels to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. Among emerging technologies, fuel cells (FCs) show tremendous potential to be a candidate for the energy of the future. An FC is “an electrochemical device that directly converts chemical energy into electrical energy” with the only byproduct being heat and water. The key component of an FC is a polymer-electrolyte membrane, which helps to separate electrons and fuel and allows ions to move through. The current commercial membranes, named cation-exchange membranes (CEMs), employ precious metals such as platinum (Pt) as a catalyst, significantly increasing the cost. Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) are another alternative currently being investigated to reduce the cost of FCs because they can employ cheaper catalysts such as nickel or silver. This thesis investigated the motion of water inside AEMs and CEMs, and proposed a model to explain how water transports in these membranes. The result of this study provides new insights into polymer membrane internal structure with the ultimate goal of controlling polymeric materials for enhanced fuel cells and other separations applications such as reverse-osmosis water purification.

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging can be used to estimate microstructural parameters of white matter in the brain. Two complementary techniques are investigated: the use of the temporal diffusion spectrum to explore small length scales and the STEAM technique to probe larger features. The diffusion spectrum has the potential to be more sensitive to small pores compared to conventional time-dependent diffusion. However, analytical expressions for the diffusion spectrum of particles only exist for simple geometries such as cylinders, which are often used as a model for intra-axonal diffusion. We propose a mathematical model for the extra-axonal space with parameters that are related to the microstructural properties of pore size, tortuosity, and surface-to-volume ratio. Measurements were made with an extra-axonal space phantom to validate the model. Fitted values for the phantom pore size match those from simulation. We extend the model to include the intra-axonal signal contribution. However, the parameters used to describe the intra- and extra-axonal spaces are related and it is important to remove redundant parameters to avoid overparameterization, which would make the model less robust. We propose analytical expressions to simplify the model. The model was then applied to measurements on fixed corpus callosum, which is a model system consisting of parallel axons. The estimated values of the axon volume fraction and mean and standard deviation of the axon radius distribution are comparable to those found in literature. Temporal diffusion spectra are useful for measuring the geometric properties of small spaces such as axon radii. However, longer diffusion times accessible using the STEAM sequence are necessary to probe structures with longer diffusion distances such as those parallel to the direction of axons. We used a model from the literature originally developed for use with animal magnetic resonance scanners and simplified it to quantify axial hindrance from data acquired on healthy volunteers in a clinical scanner. The interpretation of axial hindrance, which is a largely unexplored area of research, is discussed.