Can CO-tolerant Anodes be Economically Viable for PEMFC Applications with Reformates?

Journal Article · Sun Oct 05 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · ECS Transactions (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1149/06403.0121ecst· OSTI ID:1169026

He, P. ^[1]; Zhang, Y. ^[1]; Ye., S. ^[1]; Wang, J. X. ^[1]

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1. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Several years ago, the answer to this question was negative based on the criteria for an anode with <0.1 mg cm-2 of platinum group metals to perform similarly without and with 50 ppm CO in hydrogen proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Now, with the amount of CO impurities reduced to 10 ppm in reformates, a <1% performance loss with a 1.5% air-bleed has become a reasonable target. The CO-tolerant catalyst also needs to be dissolution resistant up to 0.93 V, viz., the potential experienced at the anode during startup and shutdown of the fuel cells. We recently demonstrated our ability to simultaneously enhance activity and stability by using single crystalline Ru@Pt core-shell nanocatalysts. Here, we report that the performance target with reformates was met using bilayer-thick Ru@Pt core-shell nanocatalysts with 0.047 mg cm-2 Pt and 0.024 mg cm-2 Ru loading, supporting a positive prognosis for the economically viable use of reformates in PEMFC applications.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC00112704
• OSTI ID: 1169026
• Report Number(s): BNL-107104-2014-JA; R&D Project: MA510MAEA; KC0302010
• Journal Information: ECS Transactions (Online), Vol. 64, Issue 3; ISSN 1938-6737
• Publisher: The Electrochemical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY