Platinum catalyst utilization factor

Following a period of slack, decisive improvements were made after 1990 in the area of PEMFCs. Modem models now achieve specific powers of over 600 to 800 mW/cm while using less than 0.4 mg/cm of platinum catalysts and offering a service fife of several tens of thousands of hours. These advances were basically attained by the combination of two factors (1) using new proton-exchange membranes of the Nafion type, and (2) developing ways toward much more efficient utilization of the platinum catalysts in the electrodes. 

Using a carbon-supported Pt catalyst to replace Pt black can reduce the platinum loading by a factor of 10—from 4 to 0.4 mg/cm [74]. However, the platinum utilization in this PTFE-bound catalyst layer still remains low in the vicinity of 20% [75,76]. 

In order to make catalyst layers with high platinum utilization and better performance, we need to determine how various factors affect Pt utilization. Although this objective has been receiving more attention, we have not achieved a fundamental understanding of the relationships of composition, structure, effective properties, and fuel cell performance—a fact that may limit the optimal design and fabrication of CLs. 

According to the different exchange current densities, i0, for hydrogen oxidation and hydrogen evolution on Ni and Pt, the catalytic activity of platinum is by a factor of several hundred to a thousand higher than that of nickel. Therefore, if the utilization of Raney-nickel particles below 10 jum size approaches 100%, it is clear that Pt-activated porous soot particles must be by a factor of from 10 to 30 smaller than Raney-nickel particles to achieve full utilization, that is, vanishing fuel starvation of the catalyst. This happens to be the case with soot agglomerates that are by their very nature of correct size (dv < 0.1 /im) (150, 151). 

A major factor in the rapid commercial utilization of catalytic reforming processing for upgrading low octane naphthas, and the production of aromatics from petroleum sources, has been the development of more active and selective dual-functional catalysts. These catalysts contain a very active hydrogenation-dehydrogenation agent such as platinum, in combination with an acidic oxide support such as alumina or silica-alumina. 

The method of deposition of the CdS and platinum and the crystalline form of the CdS material (a or cubic vs 3 or hexagonal) are important factors in the efficiency of such systmes. Future work on related integrated systems involving new supports (other polymers, clay or zeolites, glass and other ceramics) and new catalysts and semiconductors may lead to greatly improved and inexpensive systems for solar energy utilization. 

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