Fuel cell with sputter deposited platinum and platinum alloy electrodes

摘要

The present application is directed to a fabrication method to reduce Pt loading in fuel cells through the use of thin film electrodes by increasing Pt utilization and the use of more active Pt alloys that can be easily and inexpensively fabricated by sputter deposition. Pt and Pt alloy thin films were sputter deposited onto carbon/Nafion(R) decals and subsequently hot pressed with the catalyst thin film towards the membrane. The results show improved mass performance and catalyst utilization with Pt thin films and increased mass activities can be achieved with PtCo (76:24 atomic ratio) and PtCr (80:20 atomic ratio) as compared to pure Pt. Mass activity improvements of 14 mV and 8 mV were observed for the PtCo and PtCr alloys with respect to a pure Pt film with similar mass loading under 300/350 kPa hydrogen/oxygen operation.