SBIR Phase I: Commercially Viable Deposition of Catalytic Films Onto Proton Conducting Membranes

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*** ABSTRACT 9661724 Hornis This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will further develop a technique to coat proton conduction membranes with catalysts via an open atmosphere Combustion Chemical Vapor Deposition (CCVD) technology. Low temperature, high efficiency H2/02 and H2/Air based fuel cells are constructed using a variety of commercially available polymeric proton conduction membranes that are coated with a catalyst to activate the anodic/cathodic ionization reactions. Currently, platinum catalytic films are deposited by thick film technology or dip-coating resulting in high material expenses and/or yielding a mechanically fragile coating with low bonding strength. As an initial proof-of-concept for this proposal and for DuPont, MicroCoatings Technologies (MCT) deposited an adherent platinum thin film onto NAFION( in the open atmosphere. Platinum thin films deposited by the open atmosphere CCVD technology generally show properties similar or superior to those obtained by vacuum based CVD processes. Desirable adherent nanophase grains with radii of 10A to 100A can be deposited. XRD and SEM analysis indicated that the resulting film was amorphous with good adhesion to the substrate. The polymer foil is simply moved through the chamberless deposition zone, which allows large sheets or roll stock to be coated quickly. Since the CCVD technique uses solution based precursors, vapor pressures do not play a crucial role in selecting the precursor, and thus precursors generally are 30% to 95% less expensive than those needed for traditional CVD. During Phase I, platinum is going to be evaluated for adhesion strength with the membrane and their microstructure with deposition variation. Lowering the manufacturing cost of proton conducting membranes is a critical factor in furthering the commercialization of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells for transportation and stationary applications. In addition to fuel cell applications, the market for the membrane coating tech nique developed under this research includes chemical production and fluid processing. ***