Possible scenario of forming a catalyst layer for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

R Zeng; H Y Zhang; S Z Liang; L G Wang; L J Jiang; X P Liu

doi:10.1039/c9ra09864j

Possible scenario of forming a catalyst layer for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

RSC Adv. 2020 Feb 3;10(9):5502-5506. doi: 10.1039/c9ra09864j. eCollection 2020 Jan 29.

Authors

R Zeng^{1

2

3}, H Y Zhang^{1

2

3}, S Z Liang^{1

2

3}, L G Wang^{1

3}, L J Jiang^{1

2

3}, X P Liu^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ GRINM Group Co. Ltd No. 2 Xinjiekouwai Street, Xicheng Dist. Beijing 100088 P. R. China zr_zengrong@163.com.
² National Engineering Research Center of Nonferrous Metals Materials and Products for New Energy No. 2 Xinjiekouwai Street Beijing 100088 P. R. China.
³ GRIMAT Engineering Institute Co., Ltd. No. 11 Xingkedongda Street, Huairou Dist. Beijing 101407 P. R. China.

Abstract

Ionomer in the catalyst layer provides an ion transport channel which is essential for many electrochemical devices. As the ionomer and electrochemical catalyst are packed together in the catalyst layer, it is difficult to have a clear image of the ionomer distribution in the catalyst layer and how the ionomer is in contact with Pt or carbon. A highly dispersed catalyst was deposited on the TEM SiN grid directly using the same (ultrasonic spray) or a similar way as the catalyst was deposited on the membrane. By analyzing the distribution of various elements (C, F, S, Pt etc.), we found that the ionomer may coexist in the catalyst layer in three ways: ionomer covered Pt particles due to the relatively strong interaction between Pt and the ionomer; ionomer covered C particles; packed free ionomer in between the aggregated catalyst particles. The results show that the ionomer is prone to covering the surface of Pt particles as further evidenced by the accelerated degradation test (ADT).