• 대한금속재료학회지
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• 제47권7호
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• pp.454-459
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• 2009

In order to commercialize Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC), the cathode catalyst such as Platinum supported Carbon (Pt/C) need to have a high activity of Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR). In this study, the 20% Pt/C was synthesized using the chemical reduction method while the crystallinity of Platinum (Pt) particles were controlled under heat treatment conditions. The activity of synthesized Pt catalysts was evaluated using electrochemical measurement. Compared with the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heat-treated at $500^{\circ}C$ and the 20% Pt/C that were not heated and commercial 20% Pt/C, the $i_{ORR}$ at 0.8 V of 20% Pt/C heattreated at $500^{\circ}C$ was 9.5 and 1.7 times higher than those of the 20% Pt/C and commercial 20% Pt/C that were not heated. It was considered that the crystallinity and particle size affect the ORR activity of the Pt/C catalysts.

• 세라미스트
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• 제21권4호
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• pp.331-348
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• 2018

With the expectation to overcome the problem of increasing energy consumption, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are getting more attention as a promising environmentally friendly and sustainable next-generation energy conversion system. In spite of the rapid improvement of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs), there are several critical issues still need to be resolved for practical commercialization. Out of the many issues, the main hurdle comes from oxygen reduction reaction(ORR), thus development of efficient ORR electrocatalysts is the main key for enhancing PEMFC performance. Among various catalysts, 1D nanostructured catalyst is a promising candidate because it holds many advantages that come from nanostructuring while supplementing the disadvantages of other nanostructures such as nanoparticles(0D) or gyroids(3D). This review focused on diverse 1D nanostructures and talks about their advantages as catalyst for ORR. Different 1D nanostructures will be introduced while applying the structures to different materials system showing the prospects of 1D nanostructures for improving PEMFC.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• 제21권5호
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• pp.412-417
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• 2022

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) provide zero emission power sources for electric vehicles and portable electronic devices. Although significant progresses for the widespread application of electrochemical energy technology have been achieved, some drawbacks such as catalytic activity, durability, and high cost of catalysts still remain. Pt-based catalysts are regarded as the most efficient catalysts for sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, their prohibitive cost limits the commercialization of PEMFCs. Therefore, we proposed a NiCo@Au core shell structure as Pt-free ORR electrocatalyst in PEMFCs. NiCo alloy was synthesized as core to introduce ionization tendency and autoxidation reaction. Au as a shell was synthesized to prevent oxidation of core NiCo and increase catalytic activity for ORR. Herein, we report the synthesis, characterization, electrochemical properties, and PEMFCs performance of the novel NiCo@Au core-shell as a catalyst for ORR in PEMFCs application. Based on results of this study, possible mechanism for catalytic of autoxidation core@anti-oxidation shell in PEMFCs is suggested.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.207-219
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• 2024

Metal-N-C (MNC) catalysts have been anticipated as promising candidates for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to achieve low-cost polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The structure of the M-N_x moiety enabled a high catalytic activity that was not observed in previously reported transition metal nanoparticle-based catalysts. Despite progress in non-precious metal catalysts, the low density of active sites of MNCs, which resulted in lower single-cell performance than Pt/C, needs to be resolved for practical application. This review focused on the recent studies and methodologies aimed to overcome these limitations and develop an inexpensive catalyst with excellent activity and durability in an alkaline environment. It included the possibility of non-precious metals as active materials for ORR catalysts, starting from Co phthalocyanine as ORR catalyst and the development of methodologies (e.g., metal-coordinated N-containing polymers, metal-organic frameworks) to form active sites, M-N_x moieties. Thereafter, the motivation, procedures, and progress of the latest research on the design of catalyst morphology for improved mass transport ability and active site engineering that allowed the promoted ORR kinetics were discussed.

• Carbon letters
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• 제17권1호
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• pp.53-64
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• 2016

Nitrogen (N)-doped ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs) with a dual transition metal system were synthesized as non-Pt catalysts for the ORR. The highly nitrogen doped OMCs were prepared by the precursor of ionic liquid (3-methyl-1-butylpyridine dicyanamide) for N/C species and a mesoporous silica template for the physical structure. Mostly, N-doped carbons are promoted by a single transition metal to improve catalytic activity for ORR in PEMFCs. In this study, our N-doped mesoporous carbons were promoted by the dual transition metals of iron and cobalt (Fe, Co), which were incorporated into the N-doped carbons lattice by subsequently heat treatments. All the prepared carbons were characterized by via transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). To evaluate the activities of synthesized doped carbons, linear sweep was recorded in an acidic solution to compare the ORR catalytic activities values for the use in the PEMFC system. The dual transition metal promotion improved the ORR activity compared with the single transition metal promotion, due to the increase in the quaternary nitrogen species from the structural change by the dual metals. The effect of different ratio of the dual metals into the N doped carbon were examined to evaluate the activities of the oxygen reduction reaction.

• 한국수소및신에너지학회논문집
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• 제25권4호
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• pp.378-385
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• 2014

In this research, we investigate electrical performance and electrochemical properties of graphene supported Pt (Pt/G) and PtM (M = Ni and Y) alloy catalysts (PtM/Gs) that are synthesized by modified polyol method. With the PtM/Gs that are adopted for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) as cathode of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), their catalytic activity and ORR performance and electrical performance are estimated and compared with one another. Their particle size, particle distribution and electrochemically active surface (EAS) area are measured by TEM and cyclic voltammetry (CV), respectively. On the other hand, regarding ORR activity and electrical performance of the catalysts, (i) linear sweeping voltammetry by rotating disk electrode and rotating ring-disk electrode and (ii) PEMFC single cell tests are used. The TEM and CV measurements demonstrate particle size and EAS of PtM/Gs are compatible with those of Pt/G. In case of PtNi/G, its half-wave potential, kinetic current density, transferred electron number per oxygen molecule and $H_2O_2$ production % are excellent. Based on data obtained by half-cell test, when PEMFC singlecell tests are carried out, current density measured at 0.6V and maximum power density of the PEMFC single cell employing PtNi/G are better than those employing Pt/G. Conclusively, PtNi/Gs synthesized by modified polyol shows better ORR catalytic activity and PEMFC performance than other catalysts.

• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• 제5권2호
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• pp.49-52
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• 2014

Graphene nanosheets (GNS), nitrogen-doped graphene nanosheets (N-GNS), and sulfur-doped graphene nanosheets (S-GNS) were successfully synthesized, and their catalytic effects on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in $Li-O_2$ batteries were compared. The S-GNS electrode exhibited the highest ORR catalytic activity, resulting in enhanced discharge capacity and power capability. We attributed the enhanced ORR catalytic activity to the increased defect sites on graphene.

• Journal of Ceramic Processing Research
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• 제19권6호
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• pp.499-503
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• 2018

In this paper, cobalt embedded in nitrogen and sulfur co-doped carbon nanotubes (CoNSTs) were synthesized for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts. The CoNSTs were prepared through a facile heat treatment method without any templates. Different amounts of the metal salt were employed to examine the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of the CoNSTs. The CoNSTs showed the bamboo-like tube morphology with the encased Co nanoparticles in the tubes. Through the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, the catalysts exhibited different chemical states of the nitrogen and sulfur species. As a result, the CoNST performed high activity toward the ORR in an acidic condition with the onset potential of 0.863 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode). It was clearly demonstrated from the electrochemical characterizations that the quality of the nitrogen and sulfur species significantly influences the ORR activity rather than the total amount of the dopants.

• 대한화학회지
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• 제68권2호
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• pp.87-92
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• 2024

The commercialization of rechargeable metal-air batteries is extremely desirable but designing stable oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with non-noble metal still has faced challenges to replace platinum-based catalysts. The nonnoble metal catalysts for ORR were prepared to improve the catalytic performance and stability by the thermal decomposition of ZIF-8 with optimum cobalt loading. The porous carbon was obtained by the calcination of ZIF-8 and different loading amounts of Co nanoparticles were anchored onto porous carbon forming a Co/PC catalyst. Co/PC composite shows a significant increase in the ORR value of current and stability (500 h) due to the good electronic conductive PCN support and optimum cobalt metal loading. The significantly improved catalytic performance is ascribed to the chemical structure, synergistic effects, porous carbon networks, and rich active sites. This method develops a new pathway for a highly active and advantageous catalyst for electrochemical devices.

• 한국표면공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국표면공학회 2018년도 춘계학술대회 논문집
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• pp.62-62
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• 2018

Pt is still considered as one of the most active electrocatalysts for ORR in alkaline fuel cells. However, the high cost and scarcity of Pt hamper the widespread commercialization of fuel cells. As a strong candidate for the replacement of Pt catalyst, silver (Ag) has been extensively studied due to its high activity, abundance, and low cost. Ag is more stable than Pt in the pH range of 8~14 as the equilibrium potential of Ag/Ag+ being ${\approx}200mV$ higher than that of Pt/PtO. However, Ag is the overall catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) is still not comparable to Pt catalyst since the surface Ag atoms are approximately 10 times less active than Pt atoms. Therefore, further enhancement in the ORR activity of Ag catalysts is necessary to be competitive with current cutting-edge Pt-based catalysts. We demonstrate the architectural design of Ag catalysts, synthesized using plasma discharge in liquid phase, for enhanced ORR kinetics in alkaline media. An attractive feature of this work is that the plasma status controlled via electric-field could form the Ag nanowires or dendrites without any chemical agents. The plasma reactor was made of a Teflon vessel with an inner diameter of 80 mm and a height of 80 mm, where a pair of tungsten(W) electrodes with a diameter of 2 mm was placed horizontally. The stock solutions were made by dissolving the 5-mM AgNO3 in DI water. For the synthesis of Agnanowires, the electricfield of 3.6kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied across the electrodes using a bipolar pulsed power supply(Kurita, Seisakusyo Co. Ltd). The repetition rate and pulse width were fixed at 30kHz and 2.0 us, respectively. The plasma discharge was carried out for a fixed reaction time of 60 min. In case of Ag nanodendrites, the electric field of 32kVcm-1 in a 200-ml AgNO3 aqueous solution was applied and other conditions were identical to the plasma discharge in water in terms of electrode configuration, repetition rate and discharge time. Using SEM and STEM, morphology of Ag nanowires and dendrites were investigated. With 3.6 kV/cm, Ag nanowire was obtained, while Ag dendrite was constructed with 32 kV/cm. The average diameter and legth of Ag nanowireses were 50 nm and 3.5 um, and thoes values of Ag dendrites were 40 nm and 3.0 um. As a results of XPS analysis, the surface defects in the Ag nanowires facilitated O2 incorporation into the surface region via the interaction between the oxygen and the electron cloud of the adjacent Ag atoms. The catalytic activity of Ag for oxygen reduction reaction(ORR) showed that the catalytic ORR activity of Ag nanowires are much better than Ag nanodendrites, and electron transfer number of Ag nanowires is similar to that of Pt (${\approx}4$).