Abstract
Catalyst deposition control is one of the overlooked areas of fuel cell fabrication and research that can affect the overall performance and cost of the fuel cell manufacturing. One such method that is seldom utilized in research is the drawdown method, a form of spreading. The effect of the different individual catalyst layer thicknesses and loadings on both the anode and cathode compartments of a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) was investigated separately. The drawdown method was performed at thicknesses varying from 1 mil to 8 mils with Pt/Ru loadings on the anode ranging from 0.25 mg cm-2 to 2.0 mg cm-2 and platinum loadings in the same ranges on the cathode. The membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with thicker individual layers (8 mil and 4 mil) performed better than the ones prepared with thinner individual layers (1 mil) in both the anode and cathode. The power density maxima for the different loading levels followed an exponential decrease of platinum utilization at the higher loading levels. The painted MEAs tended to display similar performance characteristics as the drawdown MEA layers closest to the thickness at the respective loadings, showing an effect on the overall fuel cell performance with respect to the individual layer thicknesses.
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