Effects of the carbon powder characteristics in the cathode gas diffusion layer on the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells

The effects of two different carbon powders (oil-furnace carbon black and acetylene-black) as materials for carbon cloth-based cathode gas diffusion layers on the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) electrodes were investigated. The carbon powder characteristics affect the reversible potential of the cell (E°) and both the linear and non-linear polarization components. The best fuel cell performance was obtained at an oxygen pressure of 5 atm with acetylene-black in the cathode gas diffusion layer.