(621ai) Synthesis of Pyridine Based Polybenzimidazole Stabilized Pt-Cu Bimetallic Electrocatalysts for PEM Fuel Cell Application

Durability of the Pt electrocatalyst for PEM fuel cell has been an issue since small amount of CO (even 10 ppm) in the fuel can contaminate the Pt catalyst. In this regard, transition metals such as Cu can be used along with Pt to prevent the catalyst poisoning by CO via water gas shift reaction and at the same time the cost of the electrocatalyst can be reduced. The aim of this research is to synthesize bimetallic Pt-Cu electrocatalyst supported on carbon black (CB) using the novel technique reported by Yang et al. (2015) based on stabilization of metal nanoparticles using pyridine-polybenzimidazole (PyPBI) and polyvinyl phosphonic acid (PVPA). PyPBI has been synthesized from tetraminobiphenyl (TAB) and pyridine dicarboxylic acid (PDA) monomers. The PyPBI acts as Pt-Cu/CB binder, which is further wrapped by PVPA. The electrocatalyst performance (polarization analysis) and durability tests are conducted on PEM fuel cell at different CO concentrations in H₂, operating temperatures and pressures. The synthesized electrocatalys are characterized using TEM, XRD, N₂-adsorption-desorption, TGA-DSC, and EDX techniques. The highlights of the results from the above mentioned studies will be presented.

Reference:

Yang, Z., Hafez, I. H., Berber, M. R. and Nakashima, N., An Enhanced Anode based on Polymer-Coated Carbon Black for use as a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Electrocatalyst (2015),ChemCatChem, 7, (808–813).