Investigation of fabrication methods for a cathode using a non-precious metal catalyst in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

As the need for fuel cell systems increases, much research is underway to replace platinum catalysts. Therefore, non-precious metal catalysts composed of inexpensive metal have attracted attention. Along with catalyst development, the importance of electrode development is emphasized. In this study, two manufacturing methods using a commercial non-Pt catalyst (FeNC) for cathode were adopted to investigate the effect of the method on the performance of membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Additionally, the effect of different ionomer ratios in the catalyst slurry compositions on the electrode was studied. As a result, the MEA with cathode fabricated by the spray method displayed 2.87-times higher performance than that of MEA with cathode by gas diffusion electrode that is manufactured using the Doctor-blade method. The higher performance of the spray electrode is attributed to the large portions of the pores under 10 nm in the electrode estimated by the mercury intrusion porosimetry. Therefore, it is important to generate large numbers of mesopores to fabricate a high-performance electrode of the non-precious metal catalyst for PEMFC.