Impact of Platinum Loading and Layer Thickness on Cathode Catalyst Degradation in PEM Fuel Cells

In this work we investigate the effect of platinum loading and layer thickness on cathode catalyst degradation by a comprehensive in situ and STEM-EDS characterization. To decouple the effect of the platinum loading and layer thickness from each other, the experiments were categorized in two sets, each with cathode loadings varying between 0.1 and 0.4 mg_Pt cm⁻²: (i) Samples with a constant Pt/C ratio and thus varying layer thickness, and (ii) samples with varying Pt/C ratios, achieved by dilution with bare carbon, to maintain a constant layer thickness at different platinum loadings. Every MEA was subjected to an accelerated stress test, where the cell was operated for 45,000 cycles between 0.6 and 0.95 V. Regardless of the Pt/C ratio, a higher relative loss in electrochemically active surface area was measured for lower Pt loadings. STEM-EDS measurements showed that Pt was mainly lost close to the cathode—membrane interface by the concentration driven Pt²⁺ ion flux into the membrane. The size of this Pt-depletion zone has shown to be independent on the overall Pt loading and layer thickness, hence causing higher relative Pt loss in low thickness electrodes, as the depletion zone accounts for a larger fraction of the catalyst layer.