Method of fabricating electrode catalyst layers with directionally oriented carbon support for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) comprising an anode and a cathode and a proton conductive membrane therebetween, one or more of the anode and the cathode comprising a patterned sheet of longitudinally aligned transition metal-containing graphitic carbon nanotubes, wherein the carbon nanotubes are in contact with and are aligned generally perpendicular to the membrane, wherein a catalytically active transition metal is incorporated longitudinally and is atomically distributed throughout the graphitic carbon walls of said nanotubes, and transition metal or precious metal crystallites are present on the surface of the nanotubes, and wherein the MEA is produced by:

• forming a sheet of longitudinally aligned graphitic nanotubes on a substrate including a three dimensional pattern for aligning the nanotubes in a gas-flow pattern by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), and transferring the so-formed sheet of nanotubes to a surface of a proton conductive membrane, wherein the chemical vapor deposition comprises pyrolysis of a transition metal-containing organometallic material to form nanotubes that include the transition metal within the nanotube structure.

A membrane for a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) comprising a proton conductive membrane that includes longitudinally aligned graphitic carbon nanotubes generally perpendicular to the proton exchange membrane and in contact with a surface thereof, a catalytically active transition metal being incorporated longitudinally to the nanotubes and being atomically distributed throughout the graphitic carbon walls of said nanotubes, and transition metal or precious metal crystallites on the surface of the nanotubes.