Eliminating micro-porous layer from gas diffusion electrode for use in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
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Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
In this work, we report a simple strategy to improve the performance of high temperature polymer
electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) by eliminating the micro-porous layer (MPL) from its gas
diffusion electrodes (GDEs). Due to the absence of liquid water and the general use of high amount of
catalyst, the MPL in a HT-PEMFC system works limitedly. Contrarily, the elimination of the MPL leads to
an interlaced micropore/macropore composited structure in the catalyst layer (CL), which favors gas
transport and catalyst utilization, resulting in a greatly improved single cell performance. At the normal
working voltage (0.6 V), the current density of the GDE eliminated MPL reaches 0.29 A cm2
, and a
maximum power density of 0.54 W cm2 at 0.36 V is obtained, which are comparable to the best results
yet reported for the HT-PEMFCs with similar Pt loading and operated using air. Furthermore, the MPLfree GDE maintains an excellent durability during a preliminary 1400 h HT-PEMFC operation, owing to
its structure advantages, indicating the feasibility of this electrode for practical applications.
Description
Keywords
Chemistry, Catalyst layer, Membrane electrode, Gas electrode
Citation
Su, H. et al. (2017). Eliminating micro-porous layer from gas diffusion electrode for use in high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. Journal of Power Sources, 341, 302-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.12.029