Carbon supported Ag nanoparticles as high performance cathode catalyst for H2/O2 anion exchange membrane fuel cell.

Le Xin,Ji Qi,Zhiyong Zhang,Wenzhen Li,Zhichao Wang

doi:10.3389/fchem.2013.00016

Abstract

A solution phase-based nanocapsule method was successfully developed to synthesize non-platinum metal catalyst—carbon supported Ag nanoparticles (Ag/C). XRD patterns and TEM image show Ag nanoparticles with a small average size (5.4 nm) and narrow size distribution (2–9 nm) are uniformly dispersed on the carbon black Vulcan XC-72 support. The intrinsic activity and pathway of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the Ag/C and commercial Pt/C were investigated using rotating ring disk electrode (RRDE) tests at room temperature. The results confirmed that the 4-electron pathway of ORR proceeds on small Ag nanoparticles, and showed comparable ORR activities on the self-prepared Ag/C and a commercial Pt/C. A single H2-O2 anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) with the Ag/C cathode catalyst exhibited an open circuit potential of 0.98 V and a peak power density of 190 mW/cm2 at 80°C.

Highlights

H2-based proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been extensively studied in recent decades as an alternative power source, due to their unique advantages of high energy conversion efficiency and zero emission (Vielstich et al, 2003)
The Ag nanoparticles (Ag/C) with high loading of 4 mgAg/cm2 has been tested in the single anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) as cathode catalyst and a peak power density of ca. 47 mW/cm2 was obtained at 50◦C (Varcoe et al, 2006b)
We successfully developed a convenient solution-phase nanocapsule method to prepare Pt-Co nanoparticles (Li et al, 2010), PtNi@Pt core-shell nanoparticles (Li and Haldar, 2010), PdFe nanorods (Li and Haldar, 2009), and Pd nanoleaves (Zhang et al, 2011a) electrocatalysts and obtained improved electrocatalytic activity to oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in both acid and alkaline electrolytes, due to their very small diameter of

Summary

Introduction

H2-based proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have been extensively studied in recent decades as an alternative power source, due to their unique advantages of high energy conversion efficiency and zero emission (Vielstich et al, 2003). The Ag/C with high loading of 4 mgAg/cm2 has been tested in the single AEMFC as cathode catalyst and a peak power density of ca.

Results

Conclusion