To commercialize successfully polymer-electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), the cost must be reduced. Such cost reductions come about through simplification of balance of plant, increasing cell and stack durability and lifetime, improving cell performance, and, decreasing the cost of the cell components without sacrificing performance and lifetime. Of particular importance is this latter issue, where cell developers are trying to reduce the cost of the relatively expensive platinum-group-metal (PGM) catalysts [1]. As discussed previously, it is thought that current architectures and materials reach a limit, below which unacceptable performance losses are realized as the PGM loading is decreased [2]. To understand the genesis of these limitations, one must understand the key processes that occur during PEFC operation and measure the local resistances. In this talk, performance issues with low Pt-loaded PEFC catalyst layers will be introduced and possibly ways to mitigate them discussed. This talk will serve to explore some of the relevant issues and set the stage for following, more specific talks.

Acknowledgements

This work was funded under the Fuel Cell Performance and Durability Consortium (FC PAD) funded by the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office, of the U. S. Department of Energy.

References

[1] Fuel Cell Technologies Office Multi-Year Research, Development and Demonstration Plan, U.S. Department of Energy, 2013.

[2] A.Z. Weber and A. Kusoglu, ‘Unexplained transport resistances for

low-loaded fuel-cell catalyst layers,’ J. Materials Chemistry A, 2 (42), 17207-17211 (2014).