VISUALIZING WATER IN NON-PRECIOUS METAL CATALYST-BASED POLYMER ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS USING NEUTRON IMAGING

摘要

Non-precious metal catalysts offer a promising way to lower costs of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFCs) by eliminating the use of expensive precious metals at the cathode. Recent studies have reported catalysts that have reasonable performance in fuel cells using Nafion~R electrolyte, especially when utilizing pure oxygen as the oxidant1. However, there is little information on the role of water management in these non-precious metal catalyst layers and its effect on fuel cell performance in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA).