Combinatorial discovery and development of anode catalysts for direct ethanol fuel cells

这项工作的目标是发现和开发乙醇氧化(阳极)催化剂，以帮助使直接乙醇燃料电池(DEFC)在运输和公用事业应用中可行。这将允许广泛使用乙醇作为燃料，由于燃料电池的高效率和可再生燃料的使用，大大减少了二氧化碳排放。为了实现这一目标，我们将在电极燃料电池中使用高通量组合筛选二元、三元和四元合金催化剂，并结合产品分析和详细的机理研究。这种技术的结合对于同时优化燃料电池的性能和效率、避免副产品的产生以及允许对催化剂有基本的了解是必要的。该项目涉及加拿大燃料电池催化剂领域两位最强大的研究人员之间的合作，他们是纪念大学的彼得·皮克普和达尔豪西大学的杰夫·达恩。此外，支持组织3M加拿大公司和3M公司在燃料电池组件开发方面的创新，特别是将采用的最先进的纳米结构薄膜催化剂载体，在世界范围内得到了认可

The objective of the work is to discover and develop ethanol oxidation (anode) catalysts that would help make direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFC) viable for transportation and utility applications. This would allow widespread use of ethanol as a fuel, greatly mitigating CO2 emission due to both the high efficiencies of fuel cells and use of a renewable fuel. To achieve this objective, we will use high-throughput combinatorial screening of binary, ternary and quaternary alloy catalysts in a 64-elecrode fuel cell together with product analysis and detailed mechanistic studies. This combination of techniques is necessary to simultaneously optimize both the performance and efficiency of the fuel cell, to avoid the generation of by-products and to allow fundamental understanding of the catalysts. The project involves a collaboration between two of Canada's strongest researchers in the fuel cell catalyst area, Peter Pickup at Memorial University and Jeff Dahn at Dalhousie University. In addition, the supporting organizations, 3M Canada and 3M Co. are recognized world-wide for their innovations in fuel cell component development, particularly for the state-of-the-art nanostructured thin film catalyst support that will be employed