1. Titania supported platinum catalyst with high electrocatalytic activity and stability for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
- Author
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Huang, Sheng-Yang, Ganesan, Prabhu, and Popov, Branko N.
- Subjects
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TITANIUM dioxide , *PLATINUM catalysts , *ELECTROCATALYSIS , *CATHODES , *PROTON exchange membrane fuel cells , *CATALYST supports , *OXIDATION-reduction reaction , *NANOPARTICLES , *TRANSMISSION electron microscopy - Abstract
Abstract: Titania supported Pt electrocatalysts (Pt/TiO2) were synthesized and investigated as alternative cathode catalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images revealed uniform distribution of Pt nanoparticles (d Pt =3–5nm) on the TiO2 support. The Pt/TiO2 electrocatalyst showed comparable activity to that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst (TKK) in fuel cell studies. The fuel cell accelerated stress test (AST) for catalysts demonstrated similar stability for Pt/TiO2 and Pt/C. In-house developed accelerated durability test (ADT, continuous potential cycling between 0.6 and 1.4V) in half-cell condition indicated nearly ten-fold higher ORR activity (1.20mAcm−2) when compared to the Pt/C catalyst (0.13mAcm−2). The Pt/C catalyst showed no activity in fuel cell testing after 2000 potential cycles due to severe carbon corrosion, Pt dissolution, and catalyst particle sintering. Conversely, the Pt/TiO2 electrocatalyst showed only a small voltage loss (0.09V at 0.8Acm−2) even after 4000 cycles. Furthermore, the ADT results showed excellent stability for the Pt/TiO2 electrocatalysts at high potentials in terms of minimum loss in the Pt electrochemical surface area (ECSA). The high stability of the Pt/TiO2 electrocatalyst synthesized in this investigation offers a new approach to improve the reliability and durability of PEM-based fuel cell cathode catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011
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