Evaluation of platinum catalyzed MEAs for PEM fuel cell applications

In this paper we have evaluated the platinum catalyzed Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) by non-equilibrium impregnation reduction method for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell applications. The electrochemical and physical properties of the platinum catalyzed MEA have been examined using various characterization techniques such as cyclic Voltammetry, polarization, Scanning electron microscopy analysis and X-ray diffraction studies. The results demonstrate that the platinum catalyzed MEA exhibits significantly better electro catalytic activity and catalyst utilization than the normal MEA. A single cell with the platinum catalyzed MEA exhibits a maximum power density of 0.724 Wcm− 2 at a cell voltage of 0.6 V using H2/O2 as a fuel.

Research Highlights
► Pt catalyzed membrane is prepared by non-equilibrium impregnation-reduction method.
► High electrochemical surface area is easily obtained from this method.
► Extension of three-phase boundary improves the cell performance.
► The stability of platinum catalyzed MEA is excellent.
► Pt catalyzed MEA shows better performance than normal MEA.