Abstract
To reduce the usage of platinum (Pt) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrocatalyst, it is crucial to increase Pt utilization efficiency. In this study, an effect of polybenzimidazole (PBI) wrapping on carbon blacks (CBs) for the improvement of Pt utilization efficiency in PEMFC is investigated using CBs having high surface area (HSA) and low surface area (LSA) as well as structure-efficiency relationship is explored. Comparison study of single-cell measurements using PBI-coated and non-coated HSA and LSA electrocatalysts reveals that HSA CB is more effective to improve Pt utilization efficiency and about 33% improvement of the power density is achieved, while LSA CB marks 10% improvement under 80 °C at 100% relative humidity. The mechanism behind the greater improvement especially for HSA CB is mainly because of micropore capping by PBI wrapping, which increases the electrochemical active surface area as well as the proton conductivity and O2 diffusion. On the other hand, even though the degree of improvement is lower for LSA CB, the increase of Pt utilization efficiency is realized mainly due to the loading of uniformly dispersed smaller Pt.
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