A First Principles Study on Nano-scale Pt Alloy Structures for Fuel Cell Catalysts
제일원리전산을 이용한 연료전지용 나노 스케일 백금 합금촉매에 대한 열역학적 구조 분석
- Noh, Seung-Hyo (Department of Energy Systems Engineering, DGIST) ;
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Han, Byung-Chan
(Department of Energy Systems Engineering, DGIST)
- Published : 2012.03.29
Abstract
Over the last decade, performances of low temperature fuel cells are substantially improved by developing highly active Pt-M alloy catalysts. The electrochemical stability of those catalysts, however, still does not meet the commercial grade for fuel cells to be long-term power sources of electrical vehicles. To unveil a major mechanism causing such weak durability, we extensively utilize ab-initio computations on nano-scale Pt-Co alloy catalysts and analyze thermodynamically the most stable structure as a function of compositional variation. Our results indicate that there is a certain feature governing the particle distribution of a specific alloy element on the nano-scale catalysts, which aggravates the electrochemical degradation.
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