Zhang G, Munoz Garcia M, Etzold B (2015)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2015
Book Volume: 7
Pages Range: 3562-3570
Journal Issue: 6
DOI: 10.1021/am5074003
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.
APA:
Zhang, G., Munoz Garcia, M., & Etzold, B. (2015). Boosting performance of low temperature fuel cell catalysts by subtle ionic liquid modification. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 7(6), 3562-3570. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/am5074003
MLA:
Zhang, Guirong, Macarena Munoz Garcia, and Bastian Etzold. "Boosting performance of low temperature fuel cell catalysts by subtle ionic liquid modification." ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 7.6 (2015): 3562-3570.
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