Effects of through-plane ionomer gradients in PEMFC cathode catalyst layers

The production of components in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is a widely researched topic and still has a lot of potential for optimization. Especially the reduction of used materials like ionomer and platinum in fuel cell electrodes and the improvement of their performance are highly desired. In this study we discuss the potential of structured cathode catalyst layers by introducing a through plane ionomer gradient. For this purpose different catalyst layers with a platinum loading of 0.25 mg/cm2 have been produced by screen printing, followed by extensive In-Situ characterization in a fuel cell test bench. The results show that combining high amounts of ionomer at the membrane/electrode interface, and decreasing amounts towards the gas diffusion layer enable a good protonic connection of the catalyst layer to the membrane while improving the performance in the high current area due to lower diffusion resistance. This trend was also supported by limiting current measurements, showing increasing diffusion resistances with higher ionomer contents at the gas diffusion layer interface