Effect of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) binder on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

To achieve good interfacial compatibility between the membrane and electrode, structure modification of sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPAES) was successfully done for use as an electrode binder for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. A new activation method for hydrocarbon membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) with a hydrocarbon binder was developed using a voltage cycle instead of applying a constant voltage, which is a standard activation method for MEA with a Nafion binder. To investigate the effect of the binder, two SPAES samples with different molecular weights were used for characterization, and the composition of the binder was also optimized.