Ulrich Rost, Michael Brodmann, Bruno Zekorn, Volker Peinecke, Ivan Radev, Pit Podleschny

• This work deals with the preparation and investigation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) electrodes, which are obtained using gas diffusion layers coated with graphene related material (GRM) serving as a catalyst support for platinum nanoparticles. PEMFC electrocatalysts have been prepared by pulsed electrochemical deposition of platinum particles from hexachloroplatinic acid. Prior to GRM decoration with platinum, the graphene structures are functionalized by oxygen plasma treatment. This leads to oxygen containing functional groups on the GRM outer surface, providing an improved hydrophilic behavior, thus favoring the Pt deposition process. Membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with the so prepared electrodes are investigated in-situ in our fuel cell test system. Polarization plots (in-situ cell performance) using these MEAs have been tested under different operational conditions.