| Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has significant advantages such as high power density, low operating temperature and excellent stability. In order to bring the commercialization of PEMFC into reality, researchers all over the world are endeavoring to develop related materials to decrease the cost and improve the performance of PEMFC.The effects of composition of catalyst layer on PEMFCs'performances were investigated in this article. Membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with different Nafion loadings were fabricated, Nafion loading in catalyst layer was optimized through the research of performances of MEAs. In order to improve MEA's performance, PTFE was added into catalyst layer. The experiment results demonstrated PTFE could improve water distribution in MEA, and cell performance in high current density range was improved efficiently.A new process for the preparation of water management layer (WML) was developed in this article, in which a filmy WML was prepared separately avoiding the limitation of independence on carbon paper. Influences of several parameters including sintering time, sintering temperature, thickness and composition of WML film on PEMFC's performance were researched. The polarization characteristic of MEA with WML film was evaluated using the polarization plot of a single PEMFC. As shown in the experiment results, MEA with WML film had similar performance as MEA with WML prepared by traditional brushing method, which confirmed the water management ability of the WML film.Effects of different organic solvents applied for the preparation of catalyst layer on cell performance were investigated in this article. Performances of MEAs fabricated with three different solvents were researched, and the results indicated that dielectric constant of organic solvent had an important influence on cell performance, solvents with medium dielectric constant were more favorable for good performance. |
