Abstract
Pt doped cerium oxide thin films with a nano-porous structure was prepared by reactive rf magnetron deposition on a fuel cell gas diffusion layer (GDL) coated with nitrogenated amorphous carbon films (CNx) as an interlayer. We show that the structure and morphology of the cerium oxide-CNx composites depend on the oxygen and nitrogen concentration in working gas used for catalyst deposition. Considerable plasma erosion of the carbonaceous interlayer accompanied by the formation of highly porous carbon/cerium oxide bilayer systems is reported. Oxygen plasma etching of the carbon interlayer occurring simultaneously with cerium oxide film growth is considered to be the driving force for the formation of cerium oxide film nanoporosity with large active surface. Thin film techniques permits to grow the catalyst film characterized by highly dispersed platinum showing high hydrogen oxidation activity and stability. These new materials may help to substantially reduce the demand for expensive noble-metals in proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) catalytic applications. We measured Pt-CeOx thin film anode catalyst activity in hydrogen PEMFC and compared it with performance of a standard reference cell. We showed that membrane electrode assembly (MEA) made by assembling Pt-CeOx/CNx anode, containing 2-4 μg per cm2 only, and a reference standard cathode can deliver 1.2 W/cm2 power density.
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