Abstract
Ultra-low Pt content PEMFC electrodes have been manufactured using magnetron cosputtering of carbon and platinum on a commercial E-Tek® uncatalyzed gas diffusion layer in plasma fuel cell deposition devices. Pt loadings of 0.16 and 0.01 mg cm-2 have been realized. The Pt catalyst is dispersed as small clusters with size less than 2 nm over a depth of 500 nm. PEMFC test with symmetric electrodes loaded with 10 μg cm-2 led to maximum reproducible power densities as high as 0.4 W cm-2 and 0.17 W cm-2 with Nafion®212 and Nafion®115 membranes, respectively.