High Utilization Carbon Supported Platinum Electrocatalyst for Solid Polymer Electrolyte (7540-010)

经济型固体聚合物电解质燃料电池(SPEFC)具有潜在的商业应用前景，例如作为邮轮、海上平台和远程导航系统的辅助动力燃料电池系统。与目前使用的其他发电系统相比，燃料电池具有许多优点，包括(1)额定负载和部分负载下的高燃料-电力转换效率；(2)分子结构；(3)低污染水平。SPEFC商业化的一个主要障碍是无载体铂电催化剂的高成本。在这项工作中，PIS计划开发用于SPEFC应用的高利用率脉冲镀碳支撑电催化剂，与最先进的技术相比，这将大大降低铂成本。利用他们的小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段赠款，私人投资机构证明白金成本降低了十倍。他们的高利用率电催化剂概念是基于Nafion浸渍碳气体扩散电极，然后用铂进行脉冲电流催化(PCC)。它们只在电子和离子可及的区域电沉积小的铂催化剂颗粒(30埃)。因此，这种电催化剂中的铂利用率很高。由于阻碍SPEFC商业化的一个主要障碍是铂电催化剂的高昂成本，因此这项技术可能成为商业上可行的SPEFC电催化剂的一项技术。他们的Nafion负载电催化剂的另一个潜在应用是制作耐中毒的氧敏电极。目前，用作氧传感阴极的电催化剂受到来自阳极的可溶铅的毒害。由于Nafion是一种质子选择膜，这种电极将延缓铅对氧敏阴极的迁移和中毒。这是SBIR第二期赠款。

Economical solid polymer electrolyte fuel cells (SPEFCs) have potential commercial applications for example as auxiliary power fuel cell systems for cruise ships, offshore platforms, and remote navigation systems. Compared to other currently used electricity generating systems, fuel cells offer many advantages, including (1) high fuel to electricity conversion efficiency at both rated and part load; (2) molecular construction; and (3) low pollutant levels. A major impediment to the commercialization of SPEFC is the high cost of the unsupported platinum electrocalyst. In this work PIs plan to develop high utilization pulse plated carbon supported electrocatalysts for SPEFC applications which reduce the platinum cost substantially relative to the state-of-art. Using their Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant, the PIs demonstrated a ten-fold decrease in platinum cost. Their high utilization electrocatalyst concept is based on Nafion impregnation of a carbon gas diffusion electrode followed by pulse current catalyzation (PCC) with platinum. They electrodeposit small platinum catalyst particles (30 angstrom) only in regions with electronic and ionic accessibility. The platinum utilization in this electrocatalyst is therefore high. Because a major impediment to the commercialization of SPEFCs is the high cost of the platinum electrocatalyst, this technique could be an enabling technology for commercially viable electrocatalysts for SPEFC. Another potential application for their Nafion impregrated electrocatalyst is for poisoning resistant oxygen sensing electrodes. Currently the electrocatalyst used as a cathode for oxygen sensing is poisoned by a soluble lead species from the anode. Since Nafion is a proton selective membrane, this electrode will retard the transport and poisoning of the oxygen sensing cathode by lead. This is an SBIR Phase II grant.