Accelerated durability tests of catalyst layers with various pore volume for catalyst coated membranes applied in PEM fuel cells

The effect of pore volume on the catalyst layer durability of PEM fuel cell was simulated by soaking the catalyst coated membrane (CCM) into H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ solution. Before this simulation, the CCM with various pore volumes in catalyst layer was fabricated. The structure of catalyst layers was optimized with an increase in pore volume, leading to an improvement of fuel cell performance. However, this treatment causes a negative effect on the lifetime of CCM especially when H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ introduced. As a result, the catalyst layer with high pore volume has a higher detaching rate than that with low pore volume. The detaching of catalyst layers could be attributed to degradation of both the recast Nafion in catalyst layers and the Nafion membrane. The catalyst layer with high pore volume accelerates the recast Nafion degradation. Thus, the durability of membrane electrode assembly should be considered when the catalyst layer is optimized.