1. Mesoporous textured Fe-N-C electrocatalysts as highly efficient cathodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells.
- Author
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Akula, Srinu, Mooste, Marek, Zulevi, Barr, McKinney, Sam, Kikas, Arvo, Piirsoo, Helle-Mai, Rähn, Mihkel, Tamm, Aile, Kisand, Vambola, Serov, Alexey, Creel, Erin B., Cullen, David A., Neyerlin, Kenneth C., Wang, Hao, Odgaard, Madeleine, Reshetenko, Tatyana, and Tammeveski, Kaido
- Subjects
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CATALYSTS , *IRON catalysts , *PROTON exchange membrane fuel cells , *ELECTROCATALYSTS , *PLATINUM group , *CATHODES , *FUEL cells - Abstract
A new platinum group metal (PGM)-free proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) cathode catalyst materials, synthesized using the VariPore™ method by Pajarito Powder, LLC, are characterized for their structure and activity. The physico-chemical analysis of the iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe-N-C) electrocatalysts show mesoporous carbon material effectively doped with iron and nitrogen. The materials have an average pore size of 7–8 nm and high specific surface area. The Fe-N-C catalysts exhibit good oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity in 0.5 M H 2 SO 4 electrolyte with high half-wave potential and sustainable electrochemical stability over 10,000 repeated potential cycles with insignificant losses in their activities. As cathode catalysts in a PEMFC, the Fe-N-C materials deliver remarkably good fuel cell performance at low overpotential approaching that of the commercial Pt catalyst. The high ORR electrocatalytic activity of these Fe-N-C catalysts is credited to the synergy between nitrogen-moieties, specifically pyrrolic-N, pyridinic-N, and graphitic-N, and iron in addition to the high mesoporosity that facilitate an effective reaction path in boosting the electrocatalytic activity and stability. [Display omitted] • State-of-the-art commercial PGM-free catalysts for ORR were characterized and evaluated. • Was shown that active centres are atomically dispersed. • Performance of electrocatalysts was evaluated in industrially manufactured MEA form-factor. • The fuel cell performance is close to the state-of-the-art R&D PGM-free catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2022
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