Carbon paper-free membrane electrode assembly fabricated from a Pt electrocatalyst supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We described a new concept, carbon paper-free membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabricated from Nafion membrane and multi-walled carbon nanotubes-based electrocatalyst, in which platinum nanoparticles were deposited on carbon nanotubes after coating with pyridine–polybenzimidazole (PyPBI). Polymer-coated carbon nanotubes served as platinum nanoparticles support and current collector in carbon paper-free MEA. The fabricated carbon paper-free MEA was systematically studied by in situ cyclic voltammetry, SEM and fuel cell test. Pt utilization efficiency of carbon paper-free MEA improved with decreasing in Pt loading and reached 62% with 0.1 mgPt cm−2. Meanwhile, the mass power density reached 1.1 W mg Pt −1 , which was comparable to that of MEA with carbon paper. Fuel cell performance maintained 50% after 100000 startup–shutdown cycles, suggesting that carbon paper-free MEA was applicable in real fuel cell operation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of carbon paper-free MEA in polymer electrolyte fuel cells.