Nanostructured Electrocatalysts for Fuel Cells

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As a clean, sustainable energy technology, direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs) have emerged as highly promising power sources for portable electronic devices. However, the commercialization of DFAFCs is greatly hindered by their low catalyst performance. The present research program aims at applying nanotechnology to solve this challenge. Specifically, the focus is to increase the stability of Pd and the activity of Pt, the two most effective catalysts for DFAFCs, via the morphology- and composition-controlled synthesis of nanostructured catalysts. Proposed methodologies include: 1) To develop "cheaper, faster, greener" methods to tune the shapes of catalysts from the commonly obtained nanoparticles to novel nanostructures (e.g. wires, tubes and dendrites). 2) To synthesize alloys of the above nanostructures to further enhance their catalytic performance in DFAFCs (a key novelty), which have rarely been reported. 3) To evaluate their catalytic performance (activity and stability) in DFAFCs. An important effort will be made to more thoroughly understand the structure-property relations, to further optimize the activity and stability of DFAFCs. The successful completion of the proposed research is expected to lead to new and important knowledge in the fields of nanomaterials and clean energy, as well as in other industrial applications, such as sensors, oil refining, and vehicle emissions control, which also use noble metals as catalysts. This is of significant importance to the energy, environmental and manufacturing sectors of Canada. This research program will train 3 PhD students and 10 undergraduate students over next five years. They will gain valuable and comprehensive expertise (ranging from nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, to fuel cell applications). These HQP will contribute their expertise to the development of nanoscience and clean energy technologies that are of critical importance for the Canadian economy, environment, and society.