Effects of curing condition of solution cast Nafion® membranes on PEMFC performance

To study the feasibility of applying solution-cast membranes to polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), single cells prepared with solution-cast membranes were tested. The solution cast membranes were fabricated from a commercial Nafion solution under various conditions. Effects of annealing temperature on characteristics of the solution-cast membranes were investigated by measuring water uptake and ionic conductivity of the membranes. Performance of the single cells using the prepared solution cast membranes was evaluated in terms of i-V curves, Nyquist plots, and H₂ crossover current density. Based on the results, solution-cast membranes were fabricated by being cured at 150 °C for different hours to examine effects of curing time on cell performance. Finally, durability of solution-cast membranes was investigated with operating the single cells for 1,000 hr.