Gold Electrocatalysts for Alkaline Media

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目是分析化学和表面化学的一般领域，以及电化学和材料化学的子领域。该活动的目标是开发用于还原碱性介质中二氧的高分散、小颗粒、负载目标电催化剂。在之前的第一阶段研究中，由美国国家科学基金会资助ISI-8660688，物理科学公司证明，在目标的100表面上，二氧直接电还原成水的能力得到了增强。该公司进一步证明，可以在碳载体上制造小颗粒金催化剂，并且使用这些电催化剂可以减少不需要的过氧化氢电还原产物的形成。在目前的第二阶段活动中，前一阶段工作的范围正在扩大和扩大。目前的研究任务包括：(1)制备高分散负载金电催化剂和开发用于碱性介质的耐腐蚀负载材料；(2)通过改变颗粒大小和制备条件来定制金晶体结构，以生产（100）个优先定向的金颗粒；(3)利用扩展x射线吸收精细结构（EXAFS）光谱在真空和实际运行的燃料电池中原位测定金颗粒的晶体结构；(4)在实际操作条件下半电池结构中电极性能的测量。从这项研究中得到的新型电催化剂可能具有广泛的、技术上重要的应用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is in the general area of analytical and surface chemistry and in the subfields of electrochemistry and materials chemistry. The goal of this activity is the development of highly dispersed, small particle, supported goal electrocatalysts for the reduction of dioxygen in alkaline media. In the preceding Phase I research which was supported under NSF grant ISI-8660688, Physical Sciences, Inc. demonstrated that the direct electroreduction of dioxygen to water was enhanced on the 100 surface of goal. The company further demonstrated that small-particle gold catalysts could be fabricated on carbon supports, and that the use of these electrocatalysts gave rise to diminished formation of the undesired hydrogen peroxide electroreduction product. In the present Phase II activity, the previous Phase I work is being extended and broadened in scope. Research tasks for the current effort include (1) preparation of highly dispersed supported gold electrocatalysts and development of corrosion resistant support materials for use in alkaline media; (2) tailoring of the gold crystallite structure through variation of both particle size and fabrication conditions to produce (100) preferentially oriented gold particles; (3) determination of the crystallite structure of the gold particles using extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy both in vacuo and in situ in an actual operating fuel cell; and (4) measurement of electrode performance in a half-cell configuration under realistic operating conditions. The new electrocatalysts derived from this research could have broad, technologically important applications.