Preparation of porous gas diffusion electrodes with platinum catalysts for hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell

Abstract

A preparation method for porous gas diffusion electrodes with platinum nanoparticles supported on Vulcan XC-72 carbon is presented. A fabrication procedure to manufacture a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) to be used in hydrogen/oxygen proton exchange fuel cell is described. The design and construction of a single prototype of hydrogen/oxygen PEM fuel cell, which incorporates the assembly MEA developed in-house, are presented. The performance of this prototype is evaluated by measuring both polarization curves and power density. The experimental curves show the typical profiles of the fuel cell where different regions of energy losses, associated with limiting phenomena such as activation, ohmic, and concentration-controlled regions, are distinguished. Preliminary results allow us to conclude that the preparation method for porous gas diffusion electrodes catalyzed with platinum nanoparticles as well as the development of MEA, are suitable to achieve an efficient performance of the prototype of hydrogen/oxygen PEM fuel cell.