Pt Coated Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes as Electrodes for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

In order to reduce the catalyst loading of electrodes for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, the Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotubes (VACNT) grown on Al foil by Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition is introduced as the catalyst support material. The electrode catalyst, Pt was deposited on the VACNT by sputtering deposition for both anode and cathode. The as-prepared electrodes with different Pt loadings were assembled with commercial membrane and gas diffusion layers as five-layer Membrane Electrode Assemblies for single cell performance testing. The morphology and composition of the Pt/VACNT samples were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy. The performances and electrochemical properties of the single cells were studied by Polarization Curve and Impedance Spectroscopy. The best utilization of Pt is 0.30 g/kW at maximum power density of 697 mW/cm2 with Pt loadings of 102 μg/cm2 at cathode and 108 μg/cm2 at anode, which is 21% increasing as compared to that of the commercial catalyst under the identical conditions.