Jet Vapor Deposition of Ultra-low Loading Platinum and Ruthenium Oxide Catalysts on Polymer Electrolyte Membranes for Fuel Cell Application

聚合物电解质膜燃料电池(PEMFC)技术在电动汽车交通领域有着广阔的应用前景。然而，最先进的PEMFC技术需要大量昂贵的贵金属催化剂，这使得它们对于汽车应用来说过于昂贵。采用高效、超低负载量的催化剂电极有可能显著降低PEMFC的成本。Jet Process Corp.建议使用我们获得专利、屡获殊荣、无污染的Jet Vapor Deparation(JVD)新工艺来解决这一问题。JVD能够高速、高效地沉积金属和金属氧化物薄膜和纳米颗粒。他们将在Nafion(杜邦)聚合物电解质膜表面直接沉积超低负载的高比表面积、纳米尺寸的铂和铂/Ru氧化物电催化剂颗粒。研究人员将与美国领先的燃料电池技术供应商国际燃料电池公司合作，测试和评估第一阶段样品，以确定这些超低负荷电极的催化活性。他们还将开展工艺扩大和生产经济学的初步研究。

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology has great promise for electric vehicle transportation. State-of-the-art PEMFC technology, however, requires heavy loadings of expensive noble metal catalysts which make them too expensive for automotive application. Significant reduction of PEMFC cost could potentially be realized with high efficiency, ultra-low loading catalyst electrodes. Jet Process Corp. proposes to use our novel, patented, award-winning, pollution-free Jet Vapor Deposition (JVD) process to address this problem. JVD is capable of high rate, highly efficient deposition of metal and metal oxide films and nanoscopic particles. They will deposit ultra-low loadings of high surface area, nanometer-size platinum and platinum/ruthenium oxide electrocatalyst particles directly onto the surface of Nafion (DuPont) polymer electrolyte membranes. In collaboration with International Fuel Cells Inc., a leading U.S. supplier of fuel cell technology, the researchers will test and evaluate Phase I samples to determine the catalytic activity of these ultra-low loading electrodes. They will also develop preliminary studies on process scaleup and production economics.