Nanostructures and viscosities of nafion dispersions in water/ethanol from dilute to concentrated regimes

Gupit, C. I.*; Li, X.*; Maekawa, Ryosuke*; Hasegawa, Naoki*; Iwase, Hiroki*; Takata, Shinichi  ; Shibayama, Mitsuhiro*

The present work involved a systematic analysis of both the structural and rheological properties of Nafion dispersions carefully prepared using a standard procedure, ranging from dilute (0.1 wt %) to highly concentrated (30 wt %) conditions. Small-angle X-ray scattering confirmed the cylindrical structure of Nafion in dispersion and the unique interactions of Nafion particles acting as polyelectrolytes. Three different scaling relationships involving the zero-shear viscosities of the Nafion dispersions were determined for specific concentration regimes. However, at the upper concentration limit of approximately 30 wt %, the viscosity greatly deviated from these scaling relationships and significant shear thinning was observed. Simultaneous analyses using rheology and small-angle neutron scattering determined fully isotropic spatial correlations on a length scale of less than 60 nm, even when high shear was applied.