Low Pt loading for high-performance fuel cell electrodes enabled by hydrogen-bonding microporous polymer binders

A key challenge for fuel cells based on phosphoric acid doped polybenzimidazole membranes is the high Pt loading, which is required due to the low electrode performance owing to the poor mass transport and severe Pt poisoning via acid absorption on the Pt surface. Herein, these issues are well addressed by design and synthesis of effective catalyst binders based on polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs) with strong hydrogen-bonding functionalities which improve phosphoric acid binding energy, and thus preferably uphold phosphoric acid in the vicinity of Pt catalyst particles to mitigate the adsorption of phosphoric acid on the Pt surface. With combination of the highly mass transport microporosity, strong hydrogen-bonds and high phosphoric acid binding energy, the tetrazole functionalized PIM binder enables an H₂-O₂ cell to reach a high Pt-mass specific peak power density of 3.8 W mg_Pt^-1 at 160 °C with a low Pt loading of only 0.15 mg_Pt cm^-2.