Effect of Pore Size Distribution on Cathode Performance of Membrane-Electrode-Assembly with a Hydrocarbon-Based Binder

摘要

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) have attracted a lot of attention for their potential use as future power sources of portable electric devices and vehicles due to their advantages such as high energy density and operability at moderate temperature. The main component of a PEFC is a membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA), which consists of a proton-conductive membrane sandwiched between two electrodes containing platinum-based catalysts and proton-conductive binders. The proton-conductive materials studied most often are poly(perfluorosulfonic acids) (PFSA) such as Nafion* (DuPont), which exhibits high proton conductivity and high chemical stability (1). A hydrocarbon-based (HC) ionomer is another promising material because of its high thermal stability and sufficient environmental adaptability compared with PFSA, Some peer-reviewed literature has reported the validity of membranes composed of sulfonated polyethersulfone (S-PES), sulfonated polyetheretherketone (S-PEEK), and sulfonated polyimide (S-PI) (2-4).