ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

muSR of Polyethylene Oxide: A Simple Proton-Conducting Polymer

Abstract: Proton-conducting polymer membranes have significant technological applications in hydrogen or methanol fuel cells. muSR can shed light on the mechanisms for proton transport in polymers as Mu+ can be considered a mimic of the proton. We propose to use zero-field-muSR and weak transverse-field-muSR to measure Mu+ hopping rates in dehydrated polyethylene oxide (PEO) both above and below the glass transition temperature (Tg ~215 K). We will determine the Mu+ (and by analogy H+) hopping parameters (activation energies, pre-exponential factors) in PEO from the temperature dependence of the spin relaxation rates. In future work we will investigate how hydration and the addition of strong acids affect the hopping process, which will provide information useful for the optimization of proton-conducting membranes.

Principal Investigator: Dr Iain McKenzie
Experimenter: Dr Jamie Peck
Experimenter: Dr Stephen Cottrell

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520031

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1520031

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Iain McKenzie et al; (2015): muSR of Polyethylene Oxide: A Simple Proton-Conducting Polymer, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1520031

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.