Boosting performance of low temperature fuel cell catalysts by subtle ionic liquid modification.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
; 7(6): 3562-70, 2015 Feb 18.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-25621887
ABSTRACT
High cost and poor stability of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalysts are the major barriers for broad-based application of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Here we report a facile and scalable approach to improve Pt/C catalysts for ORR, by modification with small amounts of hydrophobic ionic liquid (IL). The ORR performance of these IL-modified catalysts can be readily manipulated by varying the degree of IL filling, leading to a 3.4 times increase in activity. Besides, the IL-modified catalysts exhibit substantially enhanced stability relative to Pt/C. The enhanced performance is attributed to the optimized microenvironment at the interface of Pt and electrolyte, where advantages stemming from an increased number of free sites, higher oxygen concentration in the IL and electrostatic stabilization of the nanoparticles develop fully, at the same time that the drawback of mass transfer limitation remains suppressed. These findings open a new avenue for catalyst optimization for next-generation fuel cells.
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces
Assunto da revista:
BIOTECNOLOGIA
/
ENGENHARIA BIOMEDICA
Ano de publicação:
2015
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Alemanha