Abstract
An “atomically-dispersed” iron-nitrogen-carbon (Fe–N–C) catalyst was used to provide a systematic comparison of platinum group metal (PGM)-free electrocatalyst degradation as a function of accelerated stress tests (ASTs) in an acidic polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). It was determined that the majority of catalyst degradation was caused by cell operation in presence of O2. In contrast, potential cycling of the Fe–N–C-containing cathode under inert atmosphere over typical PEFC cathode operation from 0.95 to 0.6 V had little to no effect. The increase in kinetic overpotential is shown to be the major source of the PEFC performance decrease during the ASTs. These results continue to showcase the need for development of robust PGM-free electrocatalysts in concert with improved electrochemical performance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 105209 |
| Journal | Nano Energy |
| Volume | 78 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2020 |
Funding
This work was authored in part by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, the manager and operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE -AC36-08GO28308 . Argonne National Laboratory is managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of Chicago Argonne , LLC, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357 . Electron microscopy was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. Research performed as part of the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat), established as part of the Energy Materials Network, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO). This work was authored in part by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, the manager and operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Argonne National Laboratory is managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by the University of Chicago Argonne, LLC, under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357. Electron microscopy was conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility and by instrumentation provided by the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Fuel Cycle R&D Program, and the Nuclear Science User Facilities. Research performed as part of the Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat), established as part of the Energy Materials Network, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO). The authors wish to thank Dimitrios Papageorgopoulos and Simon Thompson in HFTO at DOE. Piotr Zelenay (Los Alamos National Laboratory) and Deborah J. Myers (Argonne National Laboratory) are also acknowledged for fruitful discussion. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The authors declare no competing financial interest.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences | |
| Electrocatalysis Consortium | |
| University of Chicago Argonne , LLC | DE-AC02-06CH11357 |
| University of Chicago Argonne, LLC | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE -AC36-08GO28308 |
| Office of Science | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| Argonne National Laboratory | |
| National Renewable Energy Laboratory | |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory | |
| Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office |
Keywords
- Accelerated stress test
- Active sites loss
- Durability
- Kinetic overpotential
- PGM-Free catalyst
