Investigation of a Novel Catalyst Coated Membrane Method to Prepare Low-Platinum-Loading Membrane Electrode Assemblies for PEMFCs

In this work, a novel catalyst coated membrane (CCM) approach-a catalyst-sprayed membrane under irradiation (CSMUI)-was developed to prepare MEAs for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) application. Catalyst ink was sprayed directly onto the membrane and an infrared light was used simultaneously to evaporate the solvents. The resultant MEAs prepared by this method yielded very high performance. Based on this approach, the preparation of low-platinum-content MEAs was investigated. It was found that for the anode, even if the platinum loading was decreased from 0.2 to 0.03 mg cm(-2), only a very small performance decrease was observed; for the cathode, when the 2 platinum loading was decreased from 0.3 to 0.15 mg cm(-2) just a 5% decrease was detected at 0.7 V, but a 35% decrease was observed when the loading was decreased from 0.15 to 0.06 mg cm(-2). These results indicate that this approach is much better than the catalyst coated gas diffusion layer (GDL) method, especially for the preparation of low-platinum-content MEAs. SEM and EIS measurements indicated ample interfacial contact between the catalyst layer and the membrane.