Strategy to tune properties of PEM fuel cell electrodes with low Pt loading based on inkjet printing parameters

Inkjet printing (IJP) is a versatile technique for the precise design and customization of low Pt-loaded proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells based on the fully digital driven processing. Here, piezoelectric based drop-on-demand inkjet printer is applied for the purpose of printing cathode catalyst layers (CLs) with low Pt loading of around 0.1 mg cm −2 . An in-depth understanding of inkjet-printed CLs in terms of tailoring drop spacing and drop size by varying pattern resolution and pulse voltage is discussed and their effects on physical and electrochemical properties are also studied. Varying pattern resolution, CL thickness and porosity can be adapted while keeping ECSA constant. Differently, pulse voltage impacts ECSA while keeping the CL thickness and porosity almost unchanged. The highest performance was achieved with pattern resolution of 1270 dpi and pulse voltage of 34 V, yielding a peak power density of 666 mW cm −2 and Pt utilization of 5.74 kW g −1 at 0.6 V in H 2 –air fuel cell. The performance of the optimized CL with fine-tuning was improved by 17 % compared to the unoptimized CL. • Inkjet-printed CLs are tuned by adapting pattern resolution and pulse voltage. • Pattern resolution is suitable to change CL porosity and thickness. • Pulse voltage has impact on drop shape, particle distribution and ECSA.