Mechanical Property of Nafion Membrane Incorporated with Pd Nanocatalyst and the Performance of PEMFC

>> A simple solid state incorporation method was employed in order to incorporate Pd nanocatalyst into a Nafion film for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) via the reduction of palladium (II) bis (acetylacetonate), Pd(acac)2. It was sublimed, penetrated into Nafion film and then reduced to Pd nanoparticles simultaneously in a glass reactor of N2 atmosphere at 180 o C for 1, 3 and 5 min. This reaction was took place without any reducing agent and any solvent. The morphology of the Pd nanoparticles was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Pd distribution was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). And 23% modification of tensile strength of Pd/Nafion composite film was measured by universal testing machine and I–V curve was estimated by using a unit cell with 5×5 cm 2 active area.