International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.42, No.2, 1181-1188, 2017
Effect of the Nafion content in the MPL on the catalytic activity of the Pt/C-Nafion electrode prepared by pulsed electrophoresis deposition
The aim of this work is to study the effect of Nafion content in the microporous layer (MPL) on the electrophoretically deposited Pt/C-Nafion electrode performance. First, the MPLs are prepared with different Nafion ionomer contents (5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) on the carbon paper substrates. Next, Pt/C-Nafion electrodes are prepared by pulsed electrophoresis deposition (pulsed EPD) from a Pt colloidal solution as a plating bath. The catalytic activities of the prepared Pt/C-Nafion electrodes are evaluated using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). Also, a PEMFC single cell test is carried out using the Pt/C-Nafion electrodes prepared with the pulsed EPD method as a cathode. The mass-specific power density for the Pt/C-30wt% Nafion electrode is 1578.8 mW mg(Pt)(-1), which is higher than the rest of the Pt/C-Nafion electrodes. The Nafion content in the cathode MPL should affect the performance of the PEMFC, especially at a high current density. (C) 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Pt/C-Nafion electrode;Nafion ionomer;Microporous layer;Pulsed electrophoresis deposition;Single cell test