Suppression of oxygen reduction reaction activity on Pt-based electrocatalysts from ionomer incorporation

Journal Article · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2016 · Journal of Power Sources

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.06.062· OSTI ID:1270781

Shinozaki, Kazuma; Morimoto, Yu; Pivovar, Bryan S.; Kocha, Shyam S.

The impact of Nafion on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity is studied for Pt/C and Pt-alloy/C catalysts using thin-film rotating disk electrode (TF-RDE) methods in 0.1 M HClO4. Ultrathin uniform catalyst layers and standardized activity measurement protocols are employed to obtain accurate and reproducible ORR activity. Nafion lowers the ORR activity which plateaus with increasing loading on Pt catalysts. Pt particle size is found not to have significant influence on the extent of the SA decrease upon Nafion incorporation. Catalysts using high surface area carbon (HSC) support exhibit attenuated activity loss resulting from lower ionomer coverage on catalyst particles located within the deep pores. The impact of metallic composition on the activity loss due to Nafion incorporation is also discussed.

• Research Organization: NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States))
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Fuel Cell Technologies Program (EE-3F)
• DOE Contract Number: AC36-08GO28308
• OSTI ID: 1270781
• Report Number(s): NREL/JA-5900-66820
• Journal Information: Journal of Power Sources, Journal Name: Journal of Power Sources Vol. 325; ISSN 0378-7753
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ionomer coverage
nafion ionomer
oxygen reduction reaction
platinum
platinum alloy
rotating disk electrode method