Effect of the Nafion content in the MPL on the catalytic activity of the Pt/C-Nafion electrode prepared by pulsed electrophoresis deposition

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the effect of Nafion content in the microporous layer (MPL) on the electrophoretically deposited Pt/C-Nafion electrode performance. First, the MPLs are prepared with different Nafion ionomer contents (5, 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%) on the carbon paper substrates. Next, Pt/C-Nafion electrodes are prepared by pulsed electrophoresis deposition (pulsed EPD) from a Pt colloidal solution as a plating bath. The catalytic activities of the prepared Pt/C-Nafion electrodes are evaluated using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR). Also, a PEMFC single cell test is carried out using the Pt/C-Nafion electrodes prepared with the pulsed EPD method as a cathode. The mass-specific power density for the Pt/C-30wt% Nafion electrode is 1578.8mWmgPt−1, which is higher than the rest of the Pt/C-Nafion electrodes. The Nafion content in the cathode MPL should affect the performance of the PEMFC, especially at a high current density.