Method for catalyst recovery from catalyst-coated membranes

A method for recovering catalyst from a catalyst coated membrane comprising:

• providing a catalyst coated membrane comprising:
• a proton exchange membrane, the proton exchange membrane having a first surface and a second surface;
• a first continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating on the first surface of the proton exchange membrane, the first continuous polyelectrolyte multilayer coating comprising alternating layers of a polycation polymer and a polyanion polymer;
• an anode coating layer comprising anode catalyst particles on the continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating on the first surface of the proton exchange membrane;
• a cathode coating layer comprising cathode catalyst particles on the second surface of the proton exchange membrane;
• and
• optionally a second continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating between the second surface of the proton exchange membrane and the cathode coating layer;
• contacting the catalyst coated membrane with an alkaline solution and dissolving the first continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coating or the first and the second continuous nonporous cross-linked polyelectrolyte multilayer coatings;
• and
• recovering the anode catalyst particles or recovering both the anode catalyst particles and the cathode catalyst particles separately.