Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel reduction

Mani P, Srivastava R, Strasser P. Dealloyed binary PtM3 (M = Cu, Co, Ni) and ternary PtNbM (M = Cu, Co, Fe, Cr) electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction performance in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. J Power Sources. 2011 196 666-73. 

Alkaline fuel cells (AFC) — The first practical -+fuel cell (FC) was introduced by -> Bacon [i]. This was an alkaline fuel cell using a nickel anode, a nickel oxide cathode, and an alkaline aqueous electrolyte solution. The alkaline fuel cell (AFC) is classified among the low-temperature FCs. As such, it is advantageous over the protonic fuel cells, namely the -> polymer-electrolyte-membrane fuel cells (PEM) and the - phosphoric acid fuel cells, which require a large amount of platinum, making them too expensive. The fast oxygen reduction kinetics and the non-platinum cathode catalyst make the alkaline cell attractive. 

Platinum is the most common -and generally accepted as the best- electrode catalyst used in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. However, the sluggish O2 reduction kinetics on the cathode... 

Let us consider the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) that occurs in the cathode of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), in an acidic environment. Although a variety of ORR mechanisms have been proposed, the four-electron pathway is primarily used to characterize the behavior of this reaction at a platinum electrode or a glassy carbon electrode coated with a platinum-based catalyst. The overall reaction is given by... 

Recently, taking advantage of the very narrow size distribution of the metal particles obtained, microemulsion has been used to prepare electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) Catalysts containing 40 % Pt Ru (1 1) and 40% Pt Pd (1 1) on charcoal were prepared by mixing aqueous solutions of chloroplatinic acid, ruthenium chloride and palladium chloride with Berol 050 as surfactant in iso-octane. Reduction of the metal salts was complete after addition of hydrazine. In order to support the particles, the microemulsion was destabilised with tetrahydrofurane in the presence of charcoal. Both isolated particles in the range of 2-5 nm and aggregates of about 20 nm were detected by transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical performance of membrane electrode assemblies, MEAs, prepared using this catalyst was comparable to that of the MEAs prepared with a commercial catalyst. 

For polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications, platinum and platinum-based alloy materials have been the most extensively investigated as catalysts for the electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen. A number of factors can influence the performance of Pt-based cathodic electrocatalysts in fuel cell applications, including (i) the method of Pt/C electrocatalyst preparation, (ii) R particle size, (iii) activation process, (iv) wetting of electrode structure, (v) PTFE content in the electrode, and the (vi) surface properties of the carbon support, among others. ... 

M. Lefevre, J. Dodelet, Fe-based catalysts for the reduction of oxygen in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell conditions determination of the amount of peroxide released during electroreduction and its influence on the stability of the catalysts, Electrochim. Acta 48 (2003) 2749-2760. 

Polymeric functional materials are of central importance for the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and DMFC technologies in particular. In addition to the expected cost reduction due to low-cost mass productimi, for example of polymeric bipolar plates (see Sect. 2.1), the polymeric membranes are irreplaceable in the PFMFC and DMFC technologies. 

Basically, the construction of phosphoric acid fuel cells differs little from what was said in Section 20.4 about fuel cells with a liquid acidic electrolyte. In the development of phosphoric acid fuel cells and, two decades later, in the development of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells many similar steps can be distinguished, such as the change from pure platinum catalysts to catalysts consisting of highly disperse platinum deposited on a carbon support with a simultaneous gradual reduction... 

Gupta, S., D. Ttyk, S.K. Zecevic, W. Aldred, D. Guo, and R.R Savinell (1998). Methanol-tolerant elecirocatalysts for oxygen reduction in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. J. Appl. Electrochem. 28, 673-682. 

Subramanian NP, Li XG, Nallathambi V, Kumaragum SP, Colon-Mercado H, Wu G, Lee JW, Popov BN (2009) Nitrogen-modified carbon-based catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. J Power Sources 188(1) 38 4... 

Li W, Yu A, Higgins DC, Llanos BG, Chen Z (2010) Biologically inspired highly durable inm phthalocyanine catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel ceUs. J Am Chem Soc 132 17056-17058... 

There exist a variety of fuel cells. For practical reasons, fuel cells are classified by the type of electrolyte employed. The following names and abbreviations are frequently used in publications alkaline fuel cells (AFC), molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC). Among different types of fuel cells under development today, the PEMFC, also called polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFC), is considered as a potential future power source due to its unique characteristics [1-3]. The PEMFC consists of an anode where hydrogen oxidation takes place, a cathode where oxygen reduction occurs, and an electrolyte membrane that permits the transfer of protons from anode to cathode. PEMFC operates at low temperature that allows rapid start-up. Furthermore, with the absence of corrosive cell constituents, the use of the exotic materials required in other fuel cell types is not required [4]. 

Rajalakshmi, N. Ryu, H. Shaijumon, M. M. Ramaprabhu, S. (2005). Performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells with carbon nanotubes as oxygen reduction catalyst support material. J. Power Sources, 140, 250-257. 

Kramm UI, Bogdanoff P, Fiechter S (2013) Non-noble metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM-FC). In Encyclopedia of sustainable science and technology. Springer, New York, pp. 8265-8307... 

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM-FC) and Non-noble Metal Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction... 

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