Synthesis of highly porous structured polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell(PEMFC)’s catalyst layer

Abstract

Among fuel cells using hydrogen energy sources, especially polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs), are expected to a next generation energy source due to their low operating temperature, small sized unit and high efficiency. The catalyst layer in which the chemical reaction takes place determine the performance of the fuel cell. The performance of the cell can be increased when mass transfer occurs efficiently within the catalyst layer. In this study, a simple and rapid method by using emulsion template is used for fabrication of a porous structure to improve the mass transfer of fuel cell catalyst layer. To achieve this, hydrophobic particles such as catalyst particles and carbon nanofibers were dispersed in water phase, and mechanical strength was improved to prevent destruction of porous structure during drying process. As a result, a structure with higher electrochemical performance and porosity than the previous studies was fabricated by simple manufacturing process within several hours.