Abstract: In this paper, a hydrophilic thin MEA with 0.4 mg/cm~2of Pt loading in a cathode was fabricated by a novel method, and its morphology and electrode performance were compared with those of a conventiona hydrophobicl MEA with 0.7mg/cm~2of Pt loading. Unlike the morphology of the conventional MEA, there were lots of stalactiticmicro-particles on the surface of the thin MEA, which increases the specificsurface of the catalyst layer in the electrode markedly. The electrochemical results showed that in the range of small current density (<1A/cm~2), the performance of the thin MEA was inferior to that of conventional MEA, while in the range of large current density (>2A/cm~2), the performance of the former was superior to that of the latter. The maximum specific power of the thin MEA was 1.23W/cm~2, which is higher than that of conventional MEA (1.19A/cm~2). Furthermore, the specific activity of Pt in thin MEA was higher than that of conventional MEA in the range of large current density.

Key words: PEMFC, MEA, Morphology, Electrode performance