Innovative production procedure for low cost PEFC electrodes and electrode/membrane structures

As production cost will be one of the main challenges for the commercialization of fuel cells, a new approach to electrode production and electrode-membrane-electrode (EME) structure production for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) has been considered. Electrodes are produced by a modified rolling process that was formerly used for the production of electrodes for alkaline fuel cells or batteries. This rolling process has been adapted to the specific demand of PEFC electrodes. The electrodes were analyzed via cyclic voltammetry (CV), impedance and effective exchange current density (the geometrical exchange current) measurements. The comparison of these electrodes with commercially available E-Tek electrodes shows the same power output. This paper gives an overview of the ongoing research on these electrode production technologies.