UC Irvine

In recent years, the global energy demand continues rising, and the extensive usage of fossil fuels have caused severe environmental problems. As an efficient and clean electrochemical energy conversion device, Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) have attracted more and more attentions. The catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) is crucial to PEMFCs, directly impacting their performance and durability. This study evaluated traditional CCM manufacturing methods, such as air spraying and decal transfer, and identified their limitations in material efficiency or scalability. Compare to these two methods, the blade coating method (BCM) has the ability to precisely control the thickness and uniformity of the catalyst layer, and is friendly for scale production due to high material efficiency and reproducibility. However, existing blade coating methods struggle to produce uniform catalyst layers at lower target catalyst loadings for hydrocarbon ionomer PemionTM. This study introduced ethylene glycol into the solvent system to adjust the viscosity of the catalyst ink to solve this issue. By experimentally investigating the composition of the catalyst ink and the operational parameters during coating, we successfully prepared a CCM with a cathode catalyst loading of 0.3 mgPt/cm² using BCM, achieving good uniformity in the catalyst layer while the MEA's performance approached that of CCMs prepared using ASM (0.8 A/cm2 at 0.7 V). The improved blade coating process significantly enhances the uniformity of the catalyst layer. By using the improving process, BCM can achieve comparable performance to traditional CCM manufacturing methods. Given its high repeatability, fast speed, and ease of scaling up, researching, developing, and improving BCM could contribute to technological advancements in PEMFCs and the practical application.