Composite Nafion membranes containing various amounts of TiO2 (3%, 5% and 10%) were prepared by using a recast procedure for application in high temperature Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFCs). The electrochemical behaviour was compared to that of a membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) based on a bare recast Nafion membrane. All the MEAs containing the Nafion-titania membranes were able to operate up to 145°C, whereas the assembly equipped with the bare recast Nafion membrane showed the maximum performance at 120°C. A maximum power density of 340 mW cm-2 was achieved at 145°C with the composite membrane in the presence of oxygen feed, whereas the maximum power density with air feed was about 210 mW cm-2.

Carbon-supported Pt catalysts were prepared from H2PtCl6 or K2PtCl6 aqueous solutions. Particle size and structure after several thermal activation treatments were studied by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), and the results of the three techniques were compared. As the catalysts were highly dispersed on an amorphous support, a conventional XRD profile analysis for crystallite size determination could not be performed properly, because of the strong overlapping between the broad Pt peaks superposed to the halos of the amorphous phase. Thus, a new procedure of whole XRD pattern fitting, based on the Rietveld method, was used to have reliable data of Pt particle size (surface area) and lattice parameter. All structural and microstructural parameters were refined within the same procedure, also considering the transparency of the carbon supported catalysts and minimizing the effect of the amorphous background. The method can also take into account the presence of bimodal particle size distributions, which is difficult to study by CV or TEM.