Comparison of catalyst coated substrate and catalyst coated membrane MEAs performance in the PEM fuel cell under different operation conditions

In this study, the effect of the fabrication methods of the membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) on the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance after the MEA activation procedure was investigated. The MEA performance was analysed with polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The investigation of the CCS-MEA and CCM-MEA performance under different cathode relative humidity (RHC) and cell pressures indicates that the interfacial microstructure of CCS-MEA causes that MEA performance to be strongly influenced by the operation conditions.