Anion exchange membranes (AEMs) contain cations that act as dipoles. The dipoles interact
with each other and give rise to clustering in the AEM and this clustering can affect the ionic
conductivity and mechanical properties of the polymer. Polymers designed to have
dispersed cations can, when wet, have their cations cluster as the material undergoes an
order-disorder transition at some temperature at which the system has enough energy to
reorganize. Clustering is often unavoidable in AEMs and imposes a limit on the increase in …

The potential of anion exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cells to provide inexpensive compact
power from a wider variety of fuels than is possible with a proton exchange membrane
(PEM) fuel cell, has continued to drive the research interest in this area. Alkaline catalysis in
fuel cells has been demonstrated with non-precious metal catalysts, and with a variety of
fuels beyond H2 and methanol. Alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), based on aqueous solutions of
KOH, have serious drawbacks associated with system complexity and carbonate formation …