Development of MEAs for electrochemical device

Electrochemical devices for energy conversion, eg. fuel cells (Fuel Cell, FC) and electrolysers (EL) are increasingly becoming key elements for the implementation of large-scale renewable energy sources and for the electrification of surface transport. However, the development of the FC and EL systems is severely limited by the need to widely use critical raw materials (eg. Platinum and metals of the Platinum group, PGM) and by the characteristics of the electrolyte, generally consisting of polymeric membranes with high cost, and by the cost of the electrodes production. These problems could be solved by developing high-performance, durable and cost-effective membrane-electrode assemblies (MEAs), the heart of FC and EL. To do this, it is possible to act both on the development of innovative and cheaper materials, and by improving the procedures for MEAs realization, optimizing performance and reducing construction costs. In particular, MEAs with higher stability and low Pt load have been studied for PEFCs, optimizing the catalytic ink preparation parameters and the MEA forming parameters [1,2]. Furthermore, in recent years, greater interest in the use of FC and EL systems that use an alkaline exchange polymeric membrane as an electrolyte [3,4], has led to the need to develop and optimize electrode and MEA structures that use these membranes. In particular, different electrode configurations (GDE or CCM) were evaluated; the catalytic ink has been optimized considering the characteristics of the catalysts and ionomers used; MEA conditioning techniques have been optimized, both in terms of anion exchange and electrochemical activation, both in FC and EL applications