Influence of Coating Method on Performance of Roll-to-Roll Coated PEM Fuel Cell Catalyst Layers
Authors: Mauger Scott A , Wang Min , Medina Samantha , Pylypenko Svitlana , Ulsh Michael 
Published: February 2020

Industrial production of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrodes will rely on continuous roll-to-roll (R2R) coating methods to meet the rates needed for mass production.1–5 R2R production commonly uses solution coating methods to coat liquids onto a moving substrate at linear speeds over 100 m/min.6 There are many coating methods, which have different coating physics and require different ink formulations. For PEMFC catalyst layers these differences may result in different morphologies and performance. As production of fuel cell vehicles and power systems increases there is a need to understand the process science of fuel cell manufacturing.

Here we present the results of a study comparing fuel cell catalyst layers coated using two R2R coating methods: slot-die and gravure, shown in Figure 1. These two methods were selected because the physics of applying the liquid to the substrate is very different between the two cases. Also, they have different viscosity and wet-film thickness ranges, which may make one method better suited to certain materials or catalyst loadings. In slot die coating, the pre-metered liquid is fed through the cavity of a metal die and extruded onto the substrate, as shown in Figure 1a. In gravure coating, an engraved metal roller is used to transfer the liquid from a pan to the substrate (Figure 1b). In both of these methods the coated liquid film then consolidates into the final dry film. These methods are quite different than common lab-scale coating methods like ultrasonic spraying or hand painting where ink is repeatedly applied to the same area to build up the thickness of the catalyst layers. Pt/C catalysts layers were coated directly onto carbon-fiber gas diffusion media to create gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs), without the use of a decal transfer process. These GDEs were assembled into membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) by hot pressing to Nafion membranes. In situ performance and other electrochemical diagnostics were used to determine the influence of coating method on catalyst layer electrochemical properties. Electron microscopy was utilized to understand the influence of coating method on electrode morphology and its influence on electrochemical properties. We also explored the influence of solvent ratio to understand the potential coupling between ink formulation and coating methodology.

Through this work we demonstrate R2R-coated GDEs with performance equal to ultrasonic spray-coated GDEs and a 200x increase in production rate. This demonstrates that R2R coating methods are suitable for mass-production of high-performance fuel cells. It also lays a foundation for further process science studies.

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Figure 1