A completely slot die coated membrane electrode assembly

This work shows how to manufacture completely coated membrane electrode assemblies (CC-MEAs) for PEM water electrolysis by only using a slot die. Platinum, Nafion (R), and IrO2 dispersions are successively coated to the respective dried layer. For comparison reasons, MEAs with the same Iridium loading of 2.1 mg cm(-2) and Platinum loading of 0.4 mg cm(-2), assembled with a commercial membrane of the same 20 mu m thickness, were produced via decal method. Differences in polarization curves are attributed to the lower high frequency resistance of CC-MEAs determined by impedance spectroscopy. The easy-to-scale CC-MEA method presented here offers the advantages of direct membrane deposition (DMD) without the challenge of homogenously coating a porous transport layer (PTL). Therefore, it allows a free choice of different PTLs - regardless if in sintered form or as expanded metal. The comparability between the produced CC-MEAs and published DMD results is shown by means of cross-sectional and electrochemical measurements. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.