EAPSI:Real-Time Imaging of the Degradation of Fuel Cell Catalysts

燃料电池是一类通过化学反应发电的设备，是一种很有前途的可再生能源。因此，对燃料电池的研究，特别是燃料电池催化剂，最近引起了学术界和工业界的极大兴趣。目前，由铂和另一种金属如镍组成的多面纳米粒子被认为是性能最好的。然而，由于镍的损失，这些催化剂的性能会随着时间的推移而下降。因此，研究降解途径以提高催化剂的耐久性是近年来人们关注的焦点。不幸的是，大多数研究无法提供退化过程的实时信息。这项获奖研究将利用表征技术，提供纳米尺度上的实时直接观察，以深入了解燃料电池催化剂的降解过程。该研究将与上海交通大学（SJTU）的吴建波教授合作进行。吴博士在燃料电池催化剂的设计和合成方面拥有丰富的专业知识，拥有对该研究至关重要的表征技术。此外，上海交通大学拥有几台仪器，这将极大地有助于拟议的研究。液体流动电池由两个微米大小的电子透明芯片组成，催化剂样品沉积在芯片之间。底部芯片被称为间隔器，深度为150nm，允许反应性溶液通过。顶部芯片配有电极，电极可以连接到外部恒电位器，用于电流应用。再加上交大？JEOL2100F透射电子显微镜，提供低至0.1nm的分辨率和同时快速的成分数据采集，液流池为研究人员提供了一个令人兴奋的机会，可以实时了解纳米结构在动态环境中的行为。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会EAPSI与中国科技部合作资助，支持一名美国研究生的研究。

Fuel cells constitute a class of devices that generate electricity via chemical reactions and are a promising source of renewable energy. As such, research on fuel cells in general and fuel cell catalysts in particular have recently attracted much interest from academia and industry. Currently, faceted nanoparticles composed of platinum and another metal such as nickel is considered to be best performing. However, these catalysts experience decrease in performance over time due to loss of nickel. Hence recent attention has been steered toward studying the degradation pathway to improve durability of the catalysts. Unfortunately, most studies are unable to offer real-time information of the degradation process. The awarded research will utilize a characterization technique that offers direct observation at the nanometer scale in real time to gain insight into the degradation process of fuel cell catalysts. The study will be conducted collaboratively with Professor Jianbo Wu at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Dr. Wu, along with his expert knowledge in the design and synthesis of fuel cell catalysts, possesses the characterization technique essential to the study. In addition, Shanghai Jiao Tong University houses several instruments that will aid tremendously in the proposed research. A liquid flow cell is made of two micron-sized electron transparent chips, between which the catalyst sample is deposited. The bottom chip is called a spacer and is of 150nm deep, which allows the passage of reactive solutions. The top chip is equipped with electrodes, which can be connected to an external potentiostat for current application. Coupled with the SJTU?s JEOL2100F Transmission Electron Microscope, which offers resolution down to 0.1nm and simultaneous rapid composition data acquisition, the liquid flow cell give researchers an exciting opportunity to understand the behavior of nanostructures in a dynamic environment in real time. This NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.