Editors' Choice—Connecting Fuel Cell Catalyst Nanostructure and Accessibility Using Quantitative Cryo-STEM Tomography

Padgett, Elliot; Andrejevic, Nina; Liu, Zhongyi; Kongkanand, Anusorn; Gu, Wenbin; Moriyama, Koji; Jiang, Yi; Kumaraguru, Swami; Moylan, Thomas E.; Kukreja, Ratandeep; Muller, David A.

doi:10.1149/2.0541803jes

Title: Editors' Choice—Connecting Fuel Cell Catalyst Nanostructure and Accessibility Using Quantitative Cryo-STEM Tomography

Journal Article · 27 February 2018 · Journal of the Electrochemical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0541803jes · OSTI ID:1423148

^[1]; Andrejevic, Nina ^[1]; Liu, Zhongyi ^[2];

^[3]; Gu, Wenbin ^[3]; Moriyama, Koji ^[4]; Jiang, Yi ^[1]; Kumaraguru, Swami ^[3]; Moylan, Thomas E. ^[3]; Kukreja, Ratandeep ^[3]; Muller, David A. ^[5]

Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States)
General Motors Co., Warren, MI (United States)
General Motors Co., Pontiac, MI (United States)
Honda R&D Co. Ltd., Haga, Tochigi (Japan)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States); Kavli Inst. at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Ithaca, NY (United States)

Further reduction of Pt in hydrogen fuel cells is hampered by reactant transport losses near the catalyst surface, especially for degraded catalysts. Strategically mitigating these performance losses requires an improved understanding of the catalyst nanostructure, which controls local transport and catalyst durability. We apply cryo-tomography in a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) to quantify the three-dimensional structure of carbon-supported Pt catalysts and correlate to their electrochemical accessibility. We present results for two carbon supports: Vulcan, a compact support with a large majority of Pt observed on the exterior, and HSC, a porous support with a majority of Pt observed within interior carbon pores, which have relatively constrictive openings. Increasing Pt content shifts the Pt distribution to the exterior on both carbon supports. By correlating to the electrochemical surface area, we find that all Pt surface area is accessible to protons in liquid. However, the interior Pt fraction quantitatively tracks Pt utilization losses at low humidity, indicating that the interior Pt is inaccessible to the proton-conducting ionomer, likely because narrow carbon pore openings block ionomer infiltration. These results imply different proton transport mechanisms for interior and exterior Pt, and quantitatively describe the catalyst structure, supporting development of transport and durability models.

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Research Organization:: General Motors Co., Warren, MI (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation and Fuels. Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Fuel Cell Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0007271

OSTI ID:: 1423148

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1509886

Journal Information:: Journal of the Electrochemical Society, Vol. 165, Issue 3; ISSN 0013-4651

Publisher:: The Electrochemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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