Labor Gone Digital (DigiFacket)! Experiences from Creating a Web Archive for Swedish Trade Unions

The Internet has become an increasingly important forum for societal activism, as event mobilization, member organization, and some actions have moved online. These new types of activities, often facilitated by diverse social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, form an increasingly important part of contemporary social movements’ and organizations’ communication, work, and expression. This rapid digitalization and the increase of online activities have created a dilemma for social movement archives and researchers: Born-digital material is necessary to understand our contemporary movements, yet the materials generated and available on the Internet are rarely systematically archived. To help find solutions to this problem, the project Labor Gone Digital (DigiFacket)! set out to construct an archiving system for material created on the Internet by the Swedish trade union movement (i.e., websites and social media feeds). This article reviews the creation of the DigiFacket system and explores the challenges of building a web archive that meets both the needs of the research community and the movements occurring online, and that is easy enough to maintain, even for small archives

The Rôle of Side-Chains in Polymer Electrolytes for Batteries and Fuel Cells

The subject of this thesis relates to the design of new polymer electrolytes for battery and fuel cell applications. Classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) modelling studies are reported of the nano-structure and the local structure and dynamics for two types of polymer electrolyte host: poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) for lithium batteries and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) for polymer-based fuel cells. Both polymers have been modified by side-chain substitution, and the effect of this on charge-carrier transport has been investigated. The PEO system contains a 89-343 EO-unit backbone with 3-15 EO-unit side-chains, separated by 5-50 EO backbone units, for LiPF6 salt concentrations corresponding to Li:EO ratios of 1:10 and 1:30; the PFSA systems correspond to commercial Nafion®, Hyflon® (Dow®) and Aciplex® fuel-cell membranes, where the major differences again lie in the side-chain lengths. The PEO mobility is clearly enhanced by the introduction of side-chains, but is decreased on insertion of Li salts; mobilities differ by a factor of 2-3. At the higher Li concentration, many short side-chains (3-5 EO-units) give the highest ion mobility, while the mobility was greatest for side-chain lengths of 7-9 EO units at the lower concentration. A picture emerges of optimal Li+-ion mobility correlating with an optimal number of Li+ ions in the vicinity of mobile polymer segments, yet not involved in significant cross-linkages within the polymer host. Mobility in the PFSA-systems is promoted by higher water content. The influence of different side-chain lengths on local structure was minor, with Hyflon® displaying a somewhat lower degree of phase separation than Nafion®. Furthermore, the velocities of the water molecules and hydronium ions increase steadily from the polymer backbone/water interface towards the centre of the proton-conducting water channels. Because of its shorter side-chain length, the number of hydronium ions in the water channels is ~50% higher in Hyflon® than in Nafion® beyond the sulphonate end-groups; their hydronium-ion velocities are also ~10% higher. MD simulation has thus been shown to be a valuable tool to achieve better understanding of how to promote charge-carrier transport in polymer electrolyte hosts. Side-chains are shown to play a fundamental rôle in promoting local dynamics and influencing the nano-structure of these materials

The Rôle of Side-Chains in Polymer Electrolytes for Batteries and Fuel Cells

The subject of this thesis relates to the design of new polymer electrolytes for battery and fuel cell applications. Classical Molecular Dynamics (MD) modelling studies are reported of the nano-structure and the local structure and dynamics for two types of polymer electrolyte host: poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) for lithium batteries and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) for polymer-based fuel cells. Both polymers have been modified by side-chain substitution, and the effect of this on charge-carrier transport has been investigated. The PEO system contains a 89-343 EO-unit backbone with 3-15 EO-unit side-chains, separated by 5-50 EO backbone units, for LiPF6 salt concentrations corresponding to Li:EO ratios of 1:10 and 1:30; the PFSA systems correspond to commercial Nafion®, Hyflon® (Dow®) and Aciplex® fuel-cell membranes, where the major differences again lie in the side-chain lengths. The PEO mobility is clearly enhanced by the introduction of side-chains, but is decreased on insertion of Li salts; mobilities differ by a factor of 2-3. At the higher Li concentration, many short side-chains (3-5 EO-units) give the highest ion mobility, while the mobility was greatest for side-chain lengths of 7-9 EO units at the lower concentration. A picture emerges of optimal Li+-ion mobility correlating with an optimal number of Li+ ions in the vicinity of mobile polymer segments, yet not involved in significant cross-linkages within the polymer host. Mobility in the PFSA-systems is promoted by higher water content. The influence of different side-chain lengths on local structure was minor, with Hyflon® displaying a somewhat lower degree of phase separation than Nafion®. Furthermore, the velocities of the water molecules and hydronium ions increase steadily from the polymer backbone/water interface towards the centre of the proton-conducting water channels. Because of its shorter side-chain length, the number of hydronium ions in the water channels is ~50% higher in Hyflon® than in Nafion® beyond the sulphonate end-groups; their hydronium-ion velocities are also ~10% higher. MD simulation has thus been shown to be a valuable tool to achieve better understanding of how to promote charge-carrier transport in polymer electrolyte hosts. Side-chains are shown to play a fundamental rôle in promoting local dynamics and influencing the nano-structure of these materials