Researchers at Tianjin University in China have designed a furrow-ridge cathode catalyst layer (FR-CCL) with carbon nanotube (CNT) supported Pt catalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) with Pt/CNT FR-CCL shows high peak power density and durability compared to conventional Pt/C-MEA and Pt/CNT-MEA after the accelerated stress test (AST). A paper on their work is published in Journal of Power Sources.

During startup and shutdown conditions of fuel cell vehicles, the high cathode potential causes carbon corrosion and cathode catalyst layer (CCL) structural changes, significantly impacting the life of fuel cells. Mitigating carbon corrosion and enhancing the structural stability of the CCL are critical to advancing PEM fue cell technology.

Alleviating carbon corrosion can be achieved in two ways, according to the researchers: using corrosion-resistant carbon support materials and controlling water content in the CCL.

In this work, the furrow-ridge CCL (FR-CCL) constructed with Pt-based catalyst supported by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was designed to regulate the water content in the CCL. The carbon corrosion test of different catalysts and CCL structures was performed through AST (according to the requirements of the US Department of Energy) experiments. Compared with spherical carbon CCL, the MEA of Pt/CNT FR-CCL exhibits higher mass transfer efficiency and graphitization degree. Therefore, Pt/CNT FR-CCL shows excellent performance and corrosion resistance and ensures the performance of CCL after AST.

—Pei et al.

Pei et al.

Resources

• Yabiao Pei, Weikang Zhu, Haotian Liu, Xiangju Zhou, Lianqin Wang, Junfeng Zhang, Yan Yin, Design of furrow-ridge cathode catalyst layer to alleviate carbon corrosion in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, Journal of Power Sources, Volume 630, 2025, 236111, doi: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2024.236111