Scanning electron microscopy structural analysis

One should keep in mind that carbon corrosion, especially in a later stage of the tests performed here, also may change the porous structure of the cathode catalyst layer concomitant with a void volume loss (Patterson and Darling 2006 Yu et al. 2006) and also with complete deterioration of the catalyst layer, which was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy postmortem analysis of the start-stop-cycled MEA. 

Further structural information is available from physical methods of surface analysis such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron or Auger electron spectroscopy (XPS), or secondary-ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), and transmission or reflectance IR and UV/VIS spectroscopy. The application of both electroanalytical and surface spectroscopic methods has been thoroughly reviewed and appropriate methods are given in most of the references of this chapter. 

Image analysis has been used to characterize the pore structure of synthetic membrane materials. The Celgard films have also been characterized by scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. The pore size of the Celgard membranes can also be calculated from eq 5, once the MacMullin number and gurley values are known. 

Membrane morphology is studied with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) thereby providing an Insight into the relationship between asymmetric membrane preparation, structure, and performance (29,3A). The extent of ion exchange of the salt form of the SPSF membranes is studied with atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), neutron activation analysis (NAA), and ESCA. AAS is used for solution analysis, NAA for the bulk membrane analysis, and ESCA for the surface analysis. 

Although a number of secondary minerals have been predicted to form in weathered CCB materials, few have been positively identified by physical characterization methods. Secondary phases in CCB materials may be difficult or impossible to characterize due to their low abundance and small particle size. Conventional mineral identification methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis fail to identify secondary phases that are less than 1-5% by weight of the CCB or are X-ray amorphous. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), can often identify phases not seen by XRD. Additional analytical methods used to characterize trace secondary phases include infrared (IR) spectroscopy, electron microprobe (EMP) analysis, differential thermal analysis (DTA), and various synchrotron radiation techniques (e.g., micro-XRD, X-ray absorption near-eidge spectroscopy [XANES], X-ray absorption fine-structure [XAFSJ). 

Evaluating the impact of processing conditions on film structure (by means of visual analysis using scanning electron microscopy)... 

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