(44b) One-Dimensional (1-D) Electrocatalysts for Low Temperature Fuel Cells

This presentation will introduce my recent work on one dimensional (1-D) electrocatalysts, including carbon nanotube (CNT) support and support-less PdFe / PtFe alloy nanorods (PdFe-NR, PtFe-NR), that show great potential for next generation low temperature fuel cells. A simple ethylene glycol method was developed to synthesize CNT supported Pt and PtRu nanoparticles with accurately controlled size in range of 2-4 nm. CNT / CNT film supported Pt and PtRu nanoparticles showed higher activity to oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) than the carbon black supported Pt and PtRu catalysts. 1-D PdFe-NR / PtFe-NR were synthesized by an organic phase reaction of [Pd(acac)2] / [Pt(acac)2] and thermal decomposition of [Fe(CO)5] in a mixture of oleyamine (OAm) and octadecene (ODE) at 160oC with tunable length (10 nm - 50 nm). As promising cathode catalyst, supportless PdFe-NR demonstrate better proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) performance than commercial Pt/C, which can be attributed to their high intrinsic ORR activity, reduced fuel cell inner resistance, and improved mass transport. As potential anode catalyst, PdFe-NR show promising activity for ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) in alkaline electrolyte. The durability of the 1-D electrocatalysts will also be discussed.