Membrane electrode assembly with enhanced platinum utilization for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell prepared by catalyst coating membrane method

•Low Pt loading MEAs for HT-PEMFC were prepared by CCM method.•The CCM-based MEAs showed enhanced Pt utilization compared to GDEs at low Pt loading.•Cell resistances can be decreased by CCM method at low Pt loading.•Enhanced electrochemical surface area was obtained with CCM at low Pt loading.

In this work, membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) prepared by catalyst coating membrane (CCM) method are investigated for reduced platinum (Pt) loading and improved Pt utilization of high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) based on phosphoric acid (PA)-doped poly(2,5-benzimidazole) (AB-PBI) membrane. The results show that CCM method exhibits significantly higher cell performance and Pt-specific power density than that of MEAs prepared with conventional gas diffusion electrode (GDE) under a low Pt loading level. In-suit cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) show that the MEAs prepared by the CCM method have a higher electrochemical surface area (ECSA), low cell ohmic resistance and low charge transfer resistance as compared to those prepared with GDEs at the same Pt loading.

Graphical abstractThe MEAs prepared by CCM method exhibits higher Pt-specific power density than that of the GDE-based MEAs at low Pt loading at cell temperature of 160 °C under ambient pressure.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide