Water management in the anode catalyst layer (ACL) during fuel cell operation is of importance to the performance of anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). Until now, only a few methods, such as controlling external conditions and adjusting other components like the gas diffusion layer (GDL), attempt to indirectly regulate water content within the ACL. Here, we report a self-regulating ACL having stratified, gradient pore sizes from 8 nm (membrane side) to 150 nm (GDL side). Self-regulating moisture behavior was observed for the gradient ACL, constituted individually of Pt/C layer and PtRu/C layer, which was distinctly different than that from catalyst layers (CLs) composed of homogeneous catalysts (Pt/C CL, PtRu/C CL, and mixed CL). The results of this study are anticipated to give an insight into the design of CLs with smart structures for improving AEMFC performance.

在燃料电池运行过程中，阳极催化剂层（ACL）中的水管理对于阴离子交换膜燃料电池（AEMFC）的性能至关重要。到目前为止，只有少数方法（例如控制外部条件和调整其他组件，例如气体扩散层（GDL））试图间接调节ACL中的水含量。在这里，我们报告了一种自调节ACL，它具有从8 nm（膜侧）到150 nm（GDL侧）的分层渐变孔径。对于分别由Pt / C层和PtRu / C层组成的梯度ACL观察到了自调节水分行为，这与由均相催化剂（Pt / C CL，PtRu / C CL和混合CL）。