The micro/nano structure of catalyst layers and cell performance in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

摘要

The relation between the micro/nano structure of catalyst layers and cell performance in Polymer electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells was investigated experimentally. The distribution of the nano sized pore in catalyst layers depend on the mass ratio of glycerol to carbon in the catalyst ink, R. The experimental results suggest that if R is large, glycerol remains in catalyst layers even after a hot press and the remaining glycerol blocks the pores in the range of 10-300 nm, and the cell performance decreases especially in the high current density region. By SEM image, however, if R is so much small, the uniformity of the catalyst layer decreases significantly and the cell performance decreases remarkably even in the low current density region. In this study, the optimum R was about 10.