Rotary screen printing of catalyst layers for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

This study investigates printing technologies for the manufacturing of catalyst coated membranes in PEM fuel cells. Well established flatbed screen printing is compared to rotary screen printing with the potential of a continuous and fast printing technique. Cathode catalyst layers have been manufactured and compared for both technologies with the same catalyst paste. The study enables a new scalable high throughput printing technology, by printing (intermittent) patches on decal foils. In addition, a proof of concept is shown to manufacture electrode structures down to 100 μm line widths with an industrial screen printer. These electrode structures could be used to further optimize the catalyst utilization. Electrochemical characterization of the flatbed and rotary screen-printed fuel cells showed similar performance and therefore this study unlocks rotary screen printing as another printing technology for PEM fuel cells with a very high throughput potential, especially in combination with roll-to-roll processing.