Effect of cathode composition and Pt loading on the performance of PEMFCs

A two-dimensional, multiphase, non-isothermal model is utilized for the design of cathode catalyst layer polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) model coupled with a developed homogenous model which considers the catalyst layer (CCL) design parameters. The model is applied to predict the polarization curves for a variety of cathode compositions. It is found that increasing the radius of CCL influential particles including Pt and carbon particles, deteriorates the performance while increasing the ionomer weight percentage in CL enhances the performance of the cell.