Effect of Particle Size of Platinum and Platinum-Cobalt Catalysts on Stability Against Load Cycling: Towards the development of high performance, stable fuel cell catalysts with low platinum loadings

To investigate the effect of load cycling, platinum (Pt) and platinum-cobalt (PtCo) fuel cell catalysts with different particle sizes were prepared and evaluated for their durability against load cycling. The particle size of the Pt and PtCo catalysts was controlled by changing the catalyst loading...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Johnson Matthey technology review 2010-10, Vol.54 (4), p.223-232
Main Authors: Matsutani, Koichi, Hayakawa, Katsuichiro, Tada, Tomoyuki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Catalysts
Cycles
Electrocatalysts
Fuel cells
Heat treatment
Intermetallic compounds
Particle size
Platinum
Stability
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Summary:To investigate the effect of load cycling, platinum (Pt) and platinum-cobalt (PtCo) fuel cell catalysts with different particle sizes were prepared and evaluated for their durability against load cycling. The particle size of the Pt and PtCo catalysts was controlled by changing the catalyst loading and by applying heat treatment. Pt catalysts with particle sizes of 2–3 nm and 4–5 nm and PtCo catalysts with sizes of 3–4 nm, 4–5 nm and 7–8 nm were obtained. A potential sweep from 0.65 V to 1.05 V was applied to the cathode of membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) prepared with these catalysts,and the degradation of their mass activity and cell voltage were evaluated. As a result of this investigation, it was found that Pt catalysts with particle sizes of 4–5 nm and PtCo catalysts of particle sizes 7–8 nm showed better stability against potential sweep, with the Pt catalysts of sizes 4–5 nm showing the best stability of all the catalysts tested.
ISSN:0032-1400
2056-5135
DOI:10.1595/147106710X523698