Issue 10, 2010
From the journal:

Energy & Environmental Science

Enhancement of Pt and Pt-alloy fuelcellcatalyst activity and durability vianitrogen-modified carbon supports

Yingke Zhou,*ac   Kenneth Neyerlin,b   Tim S. Olson,b   Svitlana Pylypenko,ab   Justin Bult,b   Huyen N. Dinh,b   Thomas Gennett,b   Zongping Shaoc  and  Ryan O'Hayre*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, 1500 Illinois St, Golden, CO, US
E-mail: rohayre@mines.edu, zhouyk888@hotmail.com

b National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617, Cole Blvd, Golden, CO, US

c State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, No.5 Xin Mofan Road, Nanjing, China

Abstract

Insufficient catalytic activity and durability are key barriers to the commercial deployment of low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) and direct-methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). Recent observations suggest that carbon-based catalyst support materials can be systematically doped with nitrogen to create strong, beneficial catalyst-support interactions which substantially enhance catalyst activity and stability. Data suggest that nitrogen functional groups introduced into a carbon support appear to influence at least three aspects of the catalyst/support system: 1) modified nucleation and growth kinetics during catalyst nanoparticle deposition, which results in smaller catalyst particle size and increased catalyst particle dispersion, 2) increased support/catalyst chemical binding (or “tethering”), which results in enhanced durability, and 3) catalyst nanoparticle electronic structure modification, which enhances intrinsic catalytic activity. This review highlights recent studies that provide broad-based evidence for these nitrogen-modification effects as well as insights into the underlying fundamental mechanisms.

Graphical abstract: Enhancement of Pt and Pt-alloy fuel cell catalyst activity and durability via nitrogen-modified carbon supports

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C003710A
Article type
Review Article
Submitted
01 Mar 2010
Accepted
13 Jul 2010
First published
11 Aug 2010

Energy Environ. Sci., 2010,3, 1437-1446

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Enhancement of Pt and Pt-alloy fuel cell catalyst activity and durability via nitrogen-modified carbon supports

Y. Zhou, K. Neyerlin, T. S. Olson, S. Pylypenko, J. Bult, H. N. Dinh, T. Gennett, Z. Shao and R. O'Hayre, Energy Environ. Sci., 2010, 3, 1437 DOI: 10.1039/C003710A

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