Search

Non-platinum catalysts are an attractive strategy for lowering the cost of fuel cells, but much more development is needed in order to replace platinum, especially at the cathode where oxygen is reduced. Research groups worldwide have donated material for a study in which precursor structure to catalyst activity correlations are made. The donated samples have been divided into three classes based on their precursor; macrocyclic chelates, small molecule, and polymeric precursors. The precursor is one activity-dictating factor among many, but it is one of the most influential. It was found that macrocyclic chelates on average produced the most active catalysts, having the highest limiting, diffusion-limited, kinetic, and exchange current densities, as well as the lowest overpotentials and H2O2 production. This suggests that the M-N4 atomic structure of the precursor remains largely static throughout heat treatment, as the M-Nx motif is the accepted active site conformation. The other classes were somewhat less active, but the breadth of precursor materials that range in structure and functionality, as well as low associated costs, make them attractive precursor materials. Careful precursor selection based on this analysis was applied to a new generation of catalyst derived from iron salt and 4-aminoantipyrine. An extensive investigation of the reduction of oxygen on the material performed in both acid and alkaline media, and it was found that reduction follows a two-step pathway. While the peroxide reducing step is also very fast, the first step is so rapid that, even at low active site density, the material is almost as active as platinum if all diffusion limitations are removed. In addition to bottom-up catalyst design, the catalyst:ionomer complex, by which catalyst is incorporated into the membrane electrode assembly, also affects reductive kinetics. A series of novel anionically conductive ionomers have been evaluated using a well-described cyanamide derived cata

An alkaline exchange membrane (AEM) based on an aminated trimethyl poly(phenylene) is studied in detail. This article reports hydroxide ion conductivity through an in situ method that allows for a more accurate measurement. The ionic conductivities of the membrane in bromide and carbonate forms at 90 deg C and 95% RH are found to be 13 and 17 mS cm(expn -1) respectively. When exchanged with hydroxide, conductivity improved to 86 mS cm(expn -1) under the same experimental conditions. The effect of relative humidity on water uptake and the SAXS patterns of the AEM membranes were investigated. SAXS analysis revealed a rigid aromatic structure of the AEM membrane with no microphase separation. The synthesized AEM is shown to be mechanically stable as seen from the water uptake and SAXS studies. Diffusion NMR studies demonstrated a steady state long-range diffusion constant, D1 of 9.8 x 10(expn -6) cm(expn 2) s(expn -1) after 50 100 ms., The original document contains color images. Published in Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, 2012. Sponsored in part by DoE. Prepared in collaboration with the Department of Materials, Devices, and Energy Technologies, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. Prepared in cooperation with the Departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Chemistry and Geochemistry, Colorado School of Mines, Golden.