Inkjet Printed Double-Layered Cathodes for PEM Fuel Cells

Abstract

In order to optimize the mass transport, catalyst utilization, and ohmic resistance of membrane electrolyte assemblies (MEAs) in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs), a series of low Pt-loading double-layered cathodes was fabricated through inkjet printing. The printed cathodes were designed such that the total Pt/C catalyst loading was 0.1 mg cm −2 with X% of the catalyst printed on the carbon substrate and (100−X)% on the Nafion membrane (X = 100, 75, 50, 25, 0). Semi-empirical fits of fuel cell polarization curves show that voltage losses vary inversely with the percentage of material printed on the carbon substrate. Accordingly, the best fuel cell performance (2.0 A cm −2 ) was observed for the cell with 100% of the Pt/C deposited on the carbon substrate. Thus, for inkjet printed low Pt-loading cathodes, the double-layered structure show a performance intermediate between MEAs fabricated in the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) method, and MEAs fabricated with catalyst deposition solely on the Nafion membrane. This performance trend is unexpected when compared to double-layered cathodes created through conventional methods of catalyst deposition.

Recent Progress of 3D Printing of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane-Based Fuel Cells for Clean Energy Generation

“…The method of deposition of a catalyst layer by 3D printing directly onto a membrane or cathode GDL was reported [61]. The anode fabrication process was constant for all the experiments and entailed the deposition of 10 layers of ink in square patterns on a carbon paper substrate.…”