A paper by Prof. Makoto Uchida of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center and their coworkers, ” Impacts of Pt/Carbon Black Catalyst Surface Hydrophilicity on Ionomer Distribution and Durability during Water-Generating Load Cycling of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells ” published on November 9, 2023 in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials by The American Chemical Society, was selected be featured on the supplementary cover of the journal.

A paper by Prof. Makoto Uchida of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Nanomaterials Center and their coworkers, ” Impacts of Pt/Carbon Black Catalyst Surface Hydrophilicity on Ionomer Distribution and Durability during Water-Generating Load Cycling of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells ” published on November 9, 2023 in the journal ACS Applied Energy Materials by The American Chemical Society, was selected be featured on the supplementary cover of the journal (K. Nagamori et al., ACS Applied Energy Materials 2023, 6, 22, 11481-11496). Dispersibility of polymer electrolyte polymers is a major issue in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs), and this paper reported important findings on the dispersibility and durability of polymer electrolyte polymers by adjusting the surface hydrophilicity of the porous carbon support catalyst, based on joint research with N.E. CHEMCAT and partially supported by funds for projects from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). This research was carried out by Kiyotaka Nagamori (PhD student) and coresearchers and is expected to dramatically improve the durability and performance of PEFCs.