The in-house fabricated MEA comprised commercial GDEs with a Pt loading of 0.4 mg cm -2 (HyPLAT, South Africa) featuring a Freudenberg H23C9 carbon paper with a 15 μm microporous layer (MPL), subjected to hydrophobic treatment. A 15 μm GORE Select polymer membrane (M820.15, GORE) was sandwiched between the GDEs. The MEA was clamped between steel plates and subjected to hot pressing between two heated plates in a hot press (Carver Inc., USA) at 150 °C for 3 minutes, applying a compression force of 2.75 MPa. Kapton film sheets were placed between the MEA and steel plates to prevent mechanical damage to GDE and membrane, and avoid GDE displacement on both sides.