Effect of Non-ionic Surfactant on Fe-N-C Catalyst Layers under HT-PEMFC Conditions

Kurzfassung

The effect of different non-ionic surfactant contents on Fe-N-C gas diffusion electrode (GDE) coating and performance is investigated. GDEs are tested under high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) conditions at 160 °C and concentrated phosphoric acid electrolyte. Fe-N-C-based GDEs are fabricated through ultrasonic spray coating with Tergitol contents of 0, 1, 20 and 50 wt% in the catalyst layer (CL). Thereby, the PTFE to catalyst ratio is kept constant at 1.0 in the CL. The H2O contact angle decreases with increasing Tergitol™ content in the CL, revealing an increased wettability. H3PO4 contact angles of Tergitol containing GDEs show a same wettability at room temperature as at 160 °C. GDE half-cell setup investigations show, that Tergitol leads to flooding of the electrode by the electrolyte and coverage of the active sites by the surfactant and thus a performance decay.