Preparation and characterization of catalyst-coated membrane (CCM) for proton exchange mebrane fuel cells

Global energy consumption has been escalating over the years as the more and more countries are moving into the manufacturing industry. Growing affluence of developed countries has also resulted in an increased demand of electricity. Demands for more energy from alternative sources is required as oil, natural gas and coal are set to peak and go into decline within the next decade and no technology can change that As such, intensive research has been done on clean alternative energy source[1], in particular Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) as it has high efficiency and has high potential as an alternative energy source[2, 3]. In this report, the author will be covering technology behind PEMFC and its fabrication process. The conventional method of assembling PEMFC involves Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) assembled by Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) and Electrodes coated with catalyst. The final year project was conducted to investigate the novel procedure and the efficiency of the new Catalyst Coated Membrane (CCM) fabricated using the recasting CCM method, discover the effects of varying thickness of the Nafion® membrane and the effects of Hot-pressing of the Nafion® membrane on the performance of the home-made CCM, which is prepared one layer by one layer. Various experiments were conducted to measure the effects of the varying Nafion® membrane thickness and hot-pressing to obtain a suitable CCM for use in fuel cells.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering