Fabrication and electrochemical characterization of Pt–Pd impregnated nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membranes for high concentration DMFCs

Abstract

Bimetallic Pt–Pd impregnated nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membranes were prepared and the influence of Pd on Pt was evaluated towards a single cell performance. The fabricated membranes were characterised by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) accompanied with Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy for identifying the structural and morphological characteristics, respectively. It was observed that the particle size of the bimetallic particle increased with the increase in Pd content; the bimetallic particles were uniformly deposited in a closely packed structure on the membrane surface. The performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) with normal membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and Pt–Pd impregnated nanocomposite with various compositions were studied for different methanol concentrations. Pt–Pd nanocomposite MEA with 76.91 : 23.09 of atomic ratio exhibited an optimal performance with the maximum power density of 52.5 mW cm⁻². The result was benchmarked with MEA using commercially available Pt/C catalyst.