ELECTRODES FOR HYDROGEN OXYGEN POLYMER ELECTROLYTE MEMBRANE FUEL-CELLS

The PEMFCs presented in this paper use Nafion(R) 117 as the polymer electrolyte membrane and home made electrodes consisting of active solutions sprayed on two different supports: a carbon cloth or the membrane itself. Our essential purpose is to lower the platinum loadings in the active layer of the electrodes with no decrease in the fuel cells' performances. More precisely, we have studied the influence of a diffusion layer coated onto the carbon cloth and also the thermal treatment of the different layers. Cyclic voltammetry is used to assess the electrochemically active area of the electrodes. Potential/current density plots are used to compare the electrochemical performances of the electrode/membrane/electrode assemblies. A morphological characterization of low platinum loading electrodes has been done by SEM both on the surface and on the cross section.