Advanced catalyst layer design for PEM fuel cells

燃料电池和氢能途径可以带来显著的社会效益，改善生活质量、健康和环境。燃料电池已经被用于许多早期的市场应用（例如，物料处理、不间断电源、住宅热电联产、个人设备应用等），还有许多其他应用处于高级示范阶段。PEM燃料电池性能的提高需要新的设计理念来创造高效的催化剂层。本项目的重点是使用化学镀方法结合不同的模板技术在聚合物电解质膜上制造薄金属催化剂层。该项目的主要好处是开发了一种经济有效的方法来制造用于PEM燃料电池的高活性催化剂涂层膜（CCMs）。除了创造高活性的CCM外，降低成本是PEM燃料电池制造的一个关键方面。该项目提出了一种简单的方法来创建低负载的高活性催化剂层，这将提高批次间的可重复性，也为大批量生产程序的开发提供了一个入口点。

Fuel cells and the hydrogen energy pathway can lead to significant societal benefits, improving the quality of life, health and the environment. Fuel cells are already being used in a number of early market applications (e.g., materials handling, uninterrupted power supply, residential co-generation, personal device applications, etc) with many other applications at the advanced demonstration stage. Improvements in PEM fuel cell performance will require new design concepts for creation of an efficient catalyst layer. This project is focused on the manufacturing of thin metal catalyst layers on polymer electrolyte membranes using an electroless plating method in conjunction with different templating techniques. The main benefit of this project is the development of a cost effective method to fabricate highly active catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) for PEM fuel cells. Cost reduction is one crucial aspect of PEM fuel cell manufacturing in addition to the creation of a highly active CCM. This project proposes a simple approach towards the creation of low loading highly active catalyst layer that will result in improved batch to batch reproducibility also providing an entrance point for the development of high volume manufacturing procedures.