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Surface Adsorption Affects the Performance of Alkaline Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Journal Article · · ACS Catalysis
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Center for Micro-Engineered Materials (CMEM); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  3. Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
  4. Inst. of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds (CNR-ICCOM), Florence (Italy)
  5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States). Materials Science and Engineering Center
  6. Technion−Israel Inst. of Technology, Haifa (Israel). The Wolfson Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Material interactions at the polymer electrolytes–catalyst interface play a significant role in the catalytic efficiency of alkaline anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs). The surface adsorption behaviors of the cation–hydroxide–water and phenyl groups of polymer electrolytes on Pd- and Pt-based catalysts are investigated using two Pd-based hydrogen oxidation catalysts—Pd/C and Pd/C-CeO2—and two Pt-based catalysts—Pt/C and Pt-Ru/C. The rotating disk electrode study and complementary density functional theory calculations indicate that relatively low coadsorption of cation–hydroxide–water of the Pd-based catalysts enhances the hydrogen oxidation activity, yet substantial hydrogenation of the surface adsorbed phenyl groups reduces the hydrogen oxidation activity. The adsorption-driven interfacial behaviors of the Pd- and Pt-based catalysts correlate well with the AEMFC performance and short-term stability. Finally, this study gives insight into the potential use of non-Pt hydrogen oxidation reaction catalysts that have different surface adsorption characteristics in advanced AEMFCs.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Sponsoring Organization:
European Union (EU); Israel Innovation Authority; Israel Science Foundation (ISF); Ministry of National Infrastructures, Energy and Water Resources (Israel); Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (Israel); Nancy and Stephen Grand Technion Energy Program (GTEP) (Israel); USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Fuel Cell Technologies Office (EE-3F); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; AC52-06NA25396; AR0000769
OSTI ID:
1475341
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-23616
Journal Information:
ACS Catalysis, Journal Name: ACS Catalysis Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 8; ISSN 2155-5435
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (6)

Alkaline Stability of Anion-Conductive Ionomer Coated on a Carbon Surface journal October 2019
Electrospun Ionomeric Fibers with Anion Conducting Properties journal April 2019
Rational design of polyaromatic ionomers for alkaline membrane fuel cells with >1 W cm −2 power density journal January 2018
Chemical stability of poly(phenylene oxide)-based ionomers in an anion exchange-membrane fuel cell environment journal January 2018
Ultrafine Pt cluster and RuO 2 heterojunction anode catalysts designed for ultra-low Pt-loading anion exchange membrane fuel cells journal January 2020
Hydrogen Oxidation on Ni-Based Electrocatalysts: The Effect of Metal Doping journal October 2018