Comparison of catalyst-coated membranes and catalyst-coated substrate for PEMFC membrane electrode assembly: A review

Catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs) have gained popularity among membrane electrode assembly (MEA) fabricators for their abilities and advantages compared with those of other methods, such as catalyst-coated substrates (CCSs). CCMs show a profound new analysis for reducing platinum (Pt) catalyst loading. In addition, they increase the total number of reactions that occur on the MEA because of their active area amplification, which leads to an improved catalyst-utilization efficiency rate. Moreover, several characteristics are involved in the MEA fabrication methods. Material-manufacturing effects with regard to catalyst inks and analysis of the overall performance of MEAs prepared by the CCM and CCS methods are deliberated. This deliberation emphasizes the practical approaches in minimizing performance deterioration during the fabrication of MEAs using the CCM method and converses the commercialization of the CCM fabrication method toward developing an end product. Novel research is required for MEA fabrication using the CCM methods to ensure that the fuel cell performance is improved. Therefore, this review is focusing on the pros and cons of both distinguished methods, that is, CCM and CCS fabrication, for better comparison.