This study demonstrates a rapid and facile method for separating the central membrane and catalyst-coated material from production poise pads in bulk scrap fuel cell catalyst-coated membranes (CCMs), facilitating a circular economy of technologically critical metals.A novel approach is presented using high-intensity ultrasonication with two distinct sonotrode configurations for rapid delamination at ambient temperature in water.This technique utilises cavitation, where high-frequency sound waves create, expand, and collapse microbubbles, generating high-speed jets, shockwaves, and acoustic streaming.This process effectively separates the membrane and catalyst while maintaining their overall integrity of the former.
A cylindrical sonotrode (20 mm diameter) was used to optimise process parameters for smaller CCM samples to minimise time and energy consumption.To scale up the delamination process for industrial-size CCMs, a blade sonotrode (15 mm x 210 mm) was employed to enable a flow process for rapid and continuous delamination.Cavitation at the sonotrode-CCM interface was shown to facilitate the selective product and rapid breakdown of the catalyst layers, enabling full delamination of the catalyst-loaded membrane within tens of seconds.This efficient and fast delamination approach offers a promising strategy for CCM recycling.