Stimulated-healing of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Catalyst

Platinum nanoparticles, which are used as catalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), tend to degrade after long-term operation. We discriminate the following mechanisms of the degradation: poisoning, migration and coalescence, dissolution, and electrochemical Ostwald ripening. There are two ways to tackle this problem. The first option involves formulation of durable catalyst, which can resist harsh fuel cell conditions, and this is the conventional route. The second option is reactivation by dissolution and then redeposition of the catalyst nanoparticles, which is an unprecedented method for platinum catalyst regeneration/stimulated-healing and the one we shall discuss. Dissolution of platinum can be achieved electrochemically, by potential cycling of the fuel cell electrode impregnated with platinum nanoparticles in oxygen enriched acidic electrolyte according to following reactions [1]: Pt + H2O→PtO + 2H + 2e (1) PtO + 2H→Pt + H2O (2) During the potential cycling, platinum oxides are formed at each positive cycle and subsequently dissolved as platinum ions in the electrolyte on the negative cycle. These cycles are alternated continuously. The partial dissolution of platinum nanoparticles results in a decrease in particles size and oxidation of the poisonous species on the platinum surface. The process of dissolution is monitored in-situ via cyclic voltammetry technique. The concentration of dissolved platinum is measured with Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The next step of the regeneration procedure is redeposition of the dissolved platinum back onto the carbon support of the fuel cell electrode. This can be realized by means of electrodeposition. A negative potential is applied to an electrode from where the platinum was dissolved and this results in a reduction of the dissolved platinum ions. Regenerated nanoparticles are characterized by AFM, TEM and XRD. The activity of the catalyst will be checked via voltammetric techniques.