One of the most important problems in the development of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is the selection of an efficient support material to serve as the electrocatalyst, which can ensure PEMFCs’ durability at low active metal loading, with minimal changes in the electrochemical surface and conductivity during long-term operations. Carbon nanostructures are now widely used in PEMFCs as such support materials, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In order to estimate the effect of the geometric parameters of a CNT-based support on the resulting size distribution of platinum nanoparticles for given synthesis conditions, in this work, we propose a semi-empirical model that assumes a random uniform distribution of platinum particles over the CNT surface. Based on the obtained distribution, the electrochemically active surface area (EASA) of the electrocatalyst is calculated and further used to evaluate the performance of the catalytic layer (CL) in the PEMFC. The applicability of the proposed model for calculating the parameters of CNT-based CLs and the output electrochemical characteristics of PEMFCs is shown.

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During the operation of electrochemical devices with a proton-exchange membrane under the action of oxygen, the electrode is gradually destroyed and degraded from the anode side. It is possible to increase the performance and service life of electrodes of electrochemical devices by applying Ti-based protective coatings to the surface of current collectors. In this work, nanostructured films of the compositions Ti, TiO𝑥, TiN𝑦, TiO𝑥N𝑦 were obtained by magnetron sputtering of a titanium target under various conditions. The structure and composition of the samples were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction phase analysis. The effect of various modes and conditions of magnetron sputtering on the composition and structure of titanium coatings has been established. The service life of an electrode coated with the TiN𝑦 composition in the electrolyzer mode is 2 times higher than the service life of an anode without a coating under similar conditions with comparable efficiency