Scalable sacrificial templating to increase porosity and platinum utilisation in graphene-based polymer electrolyte fuel cell electrodes
Abstract
Polymer electrolyte fuel cells hold great promise for a range of applications but require advances in durability for widespread commercial uptake. Corrosion of the catalyst carbon support is one of the main degradation pathways; hence, corrosion-resilient graphene has been widely suggested as an alternative to traditional carbon black. However, the performance of bulk graphene-based electrodes is typically lower than commercial carbon black due to stacking effects. This work reports a simple, scalable and non-destructive method by which the porosity and platinum utilisation of graphene-based membrane electrode assemblies can be significantly improved. Urea is incorporated into the catalyst ink before deposition, and is then simply removed from the catalyst layer after spraying by submerging the electrode in water. This additive hinders graphene restacking and increases porosity, resulting in a significant increase in Pt utilisation and current density. This technique does not require harsh template etching and it represents a pathway to significantly improve graphene-based electrodes by introducing hierarchical porosity using scalable liquid processes.
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