Catalyst Slurry Preparation Using a Hydrodynamic Cavitation Dispersion Method for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

In this study, we used a hydrodynamic cavitation method to disperse catalyst slurries for polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) for the first time. Continuous flow processing using this method enables the mass production of a membrane–electrode assembly (MEA) for PEFCs. Here, a hydrodynamic cavitation method was compared with a batch-type ball-milling method that achieves a state-of-the-art performance Pt/C catalyst layer. Additionally, this method was compared with a simple sonication method to discuss the importance of the catalyst slurry dispersion. As a result, the MEA prepared using a well-dispersed slurry by the hydrodynamic cavitation method exhibited a high fuel cell performance comparable to that of the MEA prepared by the well-established ball-milling method and much higher than that of the MEA prepared using an insufficiently dispersed slurry by the simple sonication method. Thus, the results obtained demonstrate the applicability of a continuous flow, hydrodynamic cavitation method for MEA production in PEFCs.