Development of Ultra-Low Platinum Alloy Cathode Catalysts for PEM Fuel Cells
- Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
- Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
The goal of this project is to synthesize a low cost PEM fuel cell cathode catalyst and support with optimized average mass activity, stability of mass activity, initial high current density performance under H2/air (power density), and catalyst and support stability able to meet 2017 DOE targets for electrocatalysts for transportation applications. Pt*/ACCS-2 catalyst was synthesized according to a novel methodology developed at USC through: (i) surface modification, (ii) metal catalyzed pyrolysis and (iii) chemical leaching to remove excess meal used to dope the support. Pt* stands for suppressed platinum catalyst synthesized with Co doped platinum. The procedure results in increasing carbon graphitization, inclusion of cobalt in the bulk and formation of non-metallic active sites on the carbon surface. Catalytic activity of the support shows an onset potential of 0.86 V for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with well-defined kinetic and mass transfer regions and 2.5% H2O2 production. Pt*/ACCS-2 catalyst durability under 0.6-1.0 V potential cycling and support stability under 1.0-1.5 V potential cycling was evaluated. The results indicated excellent catalyst and support performance under simulated start-up/shut down operating conditions (1.0 – 1.5 V, 5000 cycles) which satisfy DOE 2017 catalyst and support durability and activity. The 30% Pt*/ACCS-2 catalyst showed high initial mass activity of 0.34 A/mgPGM at 0.9 ViR-free and loss of mass activity of 45% after 30,000 cycles (0.6-1.0 V). The catalyst performance under H2-air fuel cell operating conditions showed only 24 mV (iR-free) loss at 0.8 A/cm2 with an ECSA loss of 42% after 30,000 cycles (0.6-1.0 V). The support stability under 1.0-1.5 V potential cycling showed mass activity loss of 50% and potential loss of 8 mV (iR-free) at 1.5 A/cm2. The ECSA loss was 22% after 5,000 cycles. Furthermore, the Pt*/ACCS-2 catalyst showed an initial power density (rated) of 0.174 gPGM/kW. Excellent activity and stability of the catalyst are due to synergistic effect of the catalytic activity and stability of ACCS-2, its enhanced hydrophobicity as well as activity of compressive Pt* lattice catalysts. For the first time, we report a carbon based support which is stable under simulated start-up/shut down operating conditions. Five 25cm2 MEA’s were fabricated at USC using Pt*/ACCS-2 cathode catalyst for independent evaluation at National Renewable Energy. In the Final NREL report they summarize their results as follow: (1) Initial ORR activity and performance of the USC MEA’s Pt*/ACCS-2 under oxygen air, evaluated at NREL were comparable to that measured and reported by USC in their report: (2) Cyclic durability studies indicate that Pt*/ACCS-2 catalysts has minimal losses in activity and performant under 1-1.5 V potential cycling indicating a robust corrosion resistant support.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- EE0000460
- OSTI ID:
- 1330985
- Report Number(s):
- FinalReportDOE-USC-DE-EE-0000460
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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