Ji, ShanBarron, OliviaDept. of ChemistryFaculty of Science2014-01-152024-05-092011/06/062011/06/062014-01-152024-05-092010https://hdl.handle.net/10566/14421Magister Scientiae - MScThe main objective of this work it to produce membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) that have improved performance over MEAs produced by the conventional manner, by producing highly efficient, electroactive, uniform catalyst layers with lower quantities of platinum electrocatalyst. The catalyst coated membrane (CCM) method was used to prepare the MEAs for the PEM fuel cell as it has been reported that this method of MEA fabrication can improve the performance of PEM fuel cells. The MEAs performances were evaluated using polarisation studies on a single cell. A comparison of polarisation curves between CCM MEAs and MEAs produced in the conventional manner illustrated that CCM MEAs have improved performance at high current densities (>800 mA/cm2).enElectrocatalysisNanotechnologyFuel cellsElectrodesThesisUniversity of the Western Cape