A detailed study of the dehydration process of hydrated Nafion−Na membranes has been performed using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and time-dependent (TD) FTIR, with the aim of investigating the water loss process during dehydration. The TGA data provide the absolute water weight loss, and TD FTIR spectra yield the relative IR intensity loss. Both TGA profiles and TD FTIR traces can be well fitted by second-order exponential decay, which implies two different dehydration processes, depending on water content. The fast process is attributable to high water level Nafion−Na (HWLN), with percolation structure and thus higher water diffusivity. The slow process is characteristic of low water level Nafion−Na (LWLN), with specific isolated cluster structure and lower diffusivity. For LWLN, the relative IR intensity loss of water bands is significantly faster and more extensive than the corresponding relative weight loss obtained by TGA. This deviation seriously calls into question the use of IR spectra as a quantitative measurement of water content in Nafion. The apparent dependence of the IR spectrum on the size of the nanoscale water clusters is in agreement with Gebel's mechanism of water swelling in Nafion.

The durability of PEM fuel cell materials is essential to application longevity. This research explores the limits of thermal stability of platinum/Vulcan XC 72 catalysts and a 46 wt % Pt/Vulcan XC 72/Nafion catalyst layer. The thermal stability of Pt/Vulcan XC 72 catalysts and the PEM fuel cell catalyst layer is studied by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) in air. The products of decomposition are analyzed with TGA coupled with mass spectrometry (TGA−MS). Low temperature (100−200 °C) carbon combustion in the presence of platinum is confirmed. The high precision and sensitivity of TGA allows differentiation of two oxidative/mass loss regimes for 46% Pt/C. The presence of surface protective groups raises the activation energy for the low-temperature/low-conversion (≤5%) oxidation of 46% Pt/Vulcan XC 72 (197 ± 13 kJ/mol) compared to a higher temperature/higher conversion level (10−30%) process (140 ± 10 kJ/mol). In PEM fuel cell catalyst layers, the thermal decomposition temperature of Nafion is lowered by about 100 °C to 300 °C in the presence of Pt/C catalysts. As a result of the above studies it was found that TGA is convenient for the determination of Pt wt % in catalyst-coated membranes.

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