Experimental and theoretical study of low cost PEM fuel cell catalysts

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most promising fuel cell technologies due to its quick start-up, high efficiency, and simplicity. One of the major challenges for the commercialization of PEMFC is the high cost of platinum as the catalyst. The aim of this study is to perform in-depth investigation on several approaches to reduce the Pt loading with enhanced performance on important fuel cell reactions such as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The approaches includes the synthesis of hydrophilic Pt catalyst, Pt decorated vertically-aligned CNTs, nanostructured trimetallic catalysts, and Pt-tungsten carbides nano-composites. The performance of these catalysts were evaluated and their physical and electrochemical properties were characterized using experimental and theoretical approaches. In general these catalysts improve the performance of PEMFC and maybe lead the technology closer to commercialization.