Towards Realistic Fuel Cell Catalyst Degradation via Automated Identical Location-SEM-PSD Analysis with GDE Half-Cell Setup

Résumé fourni par la source

A realistic evaluation of electrocatalyst stability requires experimental setups that accurately reproduce the coupled chemical and transport environments of membrane–electrode assemblies. Conventional GDE half-cells, however, are typically operated without a proton-exchange membrane, exposing the catalyst layer directly to liquid electrolyte and intensifying dissolution–migration–redeposition dynamics. Here we examine how the presence of a membrane alters degradation in PtCo/C catalyst layers and establish a quantitative workflow for tracking nanoparticle evolution under realistic conditions. Particle size distributions (PSDs) are extracted directly from low-kV identical-location SEM (IL-SEM) images of intact multilayer electrodes and validated against IL-TEM for surface-accessible particles. Automated segmentation enables robust, high-throughput analysis across large datasets. Applying this framework to accelerated stress tests reveals that membrane-free GDEs undergo pronounced coarsening driven by severe Pt dissolution and redeposition under direct acid exposure, whereas membrane-protected electrodes constrain transport pathways and therefore exhibit more moderate, representative degradation behaviour. These findings underscore the indispensable role of the membrane for realistic half-cell durability studies and demonstrate that automated IL-SEM-based PSD analysis provides a powerful framework for linking morphological evolution to electrochemical performance in complex, multilayer electrocatalyst systems

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