<I>Studies of Precious Metal Catalysts in the CARMAC Programme</I>

Quantifying the density and utilization of active sites in non-precious metal oxygen electroreduction catalysts

Carbon materials doped with transition metal and nitrogen are highly active, non-precious metal catalysts for the electrochemical conversion of molecular oxygen in fuel cells, metal air batteries, and electrolytic processes. However, accurate measurement of their intrinsic turn-over frequency and active-site density based on metal centres in bulk and surface has remained difficult to date, whic...

Investigations into the Direct Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide and CO Oxidation Using Precious Metal Catalysts

In situ electrochemical quantification of active sites in Fe–N/C non-precious metal catalysts

The economic viability of low temperature fuel cells as clean energy devices is enhanced by the development of inexpensive oxygen reduction reaction catalysts. Heat treated iron and nitrogen containing carbon based materials (Fe-N/C) have shown potential to replace expensive precious metals. Although significant improvements have recently been made, their activity and durability is still unsati...

Identification of carbon-encapsulated iron nanoparticles as active species in non-precious metal oxygen reduction catalysts

The widespread use of fuel cells is currently limited by the lack of efficient and cost-effective catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. Iron-based non-precious metal catalysts exhibit promising activity and stability, as an alternative to state-of-the-art platinum catalysts. However, the identity of the active species in non-precious metal catalysts remains elusive, impeding the developm...

Mechanisms of CH4, H2S and SO2 Oxidation on Precious Metal Catalysts under stagnation point flow conditions

A new methodology which combines reactor experiments and numerical modelling to derive kinetic rates of solid-gas heterogeneous reactions in a stagnation point flow reactor (SPFR) is developed and used to investigate the effects of small concentrations of H2S and SO2 on the lean catalytic combustion of methane on precious metal catalysts. The activity of polycrystalline Pt foil, then Pt, Rh and...