Standardized Protocols for Platinum Group Metal-Free Fuel Cell Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

In spite of very significant progress in performance of platinum group metal-free (PGM-free) electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the past two decades, the activity and especially the stability and durability of these catalysts remain insufficient. This applies even to the catalysts derived from transition metals, nitrogen, and carbon via a high-temperature synthesis path, which have consistently shown the best performance among all PGM-free ORR catalysts developed to date. A very important requirement for accelerating the much needed progress in PGM-free electrocatalysis is the development of a common catalyst test platform, especially, since it became apparent some years ago that protocols developed for Pt-based ORR catalysts are inadequate for their non-precious metal counterparts due to the very different performance degradation routes in these two cases.In response to the growing need for uniform PGM-free catalyst test protocols, U.S. Department of Energy delegated the task of completing their development and validation to the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat), created in 2016 as part of DOE-EERE’s Energy Materials Network (EMN). In this presentation, we will introduce protocols and performance test metrics, which have been approved by DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office. We will also briefly summarize the results from the round-robin testing of two PGM-free catalysts, a commercial material from Pajarito Powder and a Fe-N-C catalyst synthesized at Los Alamos, recently completed at U.S. three national laboratories.We are using this opportunity to disseminate PGM-free test protocols and also justify their adoption in the electrocatalysis community with experimental data, which will be reported in greater detail in a separate presentation at this ECS meeting. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office under the auspices of the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat).