Indium Tin Oxide as Catalyst Support for PEM Fuel Cell: RDE and MEA Performance

Wang, Guanxiong; Niangar, Ellazar; Huang, Kan; Atienza, Dianne O.; Kumar, Arun; Dale, Nilesh; Oshihara, Kenzo; Ramani, Vijay

doi:10.1149/06917.1179ecst

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Figure 5 shows the results for the deconvolution of the In3d 5/2 peaks. The first peak, peak 1 at 445.6 eV corresponds to the indium peak corresponding to the ITO structure(In-O, structural O) whereas the second peak, peak 2 at 446.6eV is due to the presence of indium peak corresponding to the indium hydroxide structure (In-OH, structural OH) (Wang et al, 2015). These results are in contradiction with earlier results wherein only one peak was reported for a similar catalyst (Zhao et al, 2015).…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 91%

“…Upon use in the cathode and anode, the O1s binding energy increased to 530.76 and 530.69 eV, respectively. Peak deconvolution of the O1s peaks was performed by assuming the presence of three overlapping peaks (see Figure 4): 1) peak 1 at 529.9 eV, resultant from the oxide in ITO; 2) peak 2 at 530.56 eV, associated with the presence of hydroxide groups in the catalysts surface; and 3) peak 3 at 533.79 eV, related to the presence of oxygen vacancies in the oxide (Wang et al, 2015). We estimated (with an error limit of ±5%) that the oxygen vacancies were 7.5%, 16.3% and 21.6%, for the control, cathode-tested and anode-tested electrocatalysts, respectively.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the degradation of Pt/ITO electrocatalyst in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Wang

Bhattacharyya

Parrondo

et al. 2016

Chemical Engineering Science

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We investigate the performance and stability of a platinum (Pt) supported on indium tin oxide (ITO) electrocatalyst. ITO was synthesized using the co-precipitation method and uniform particles with a B.E.T. surface area larger than 40 m 2 /g were obtained. Pt was dispersed onto the ITO by colloidal deposition followed by reduction with formaldehyde. Previous rotating disk electrode (RDE) work has shown that Pt/ITO possesses high activity and stability for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, this catalyst exhibited very poor performance and stability in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) membrane electrode assembly (MEA). For H 2 /O 2 PEFC operation at 80 ºC and 75% relative humidity (RH), the current density obtained at 0.55V was only 90 mA/cm 2 , and the maximum current density was only 150-160 mA/cm 2 , when Pt/ITO was used at the cathode, whereas a limiting current density of 3900 mA/cm 2 was readily obtained using a benchmark Pt/C catalyst under identical conditions. The low performance with Pt/ITO was primarily due to the high overall cell resistance of the MEA (> 400 mOhm-cm 2). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to investigate the degradation of the Pt/ITO catalyst in the PEFC electrode during operation. The deconvolution of the indium 3d XPS peak revealed the presence of two peaks: the first was assigned to indium oxide in ITO (at 445.6eV), while the second was assigned to indium hydroxide (at 446.6 eV). We observed an increase in surface hydroxide concentration (compared to pristine Pt/ITO) after the Pt/ITO catalyst was used either at the cathode or anode of an operating PEFC. We postulate that the surface hydroxides form a passivating layer that increases the electrode resistance and undermines PEFC performance.

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Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 91%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the degradation of Pt/ITO electrocatalyst in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Wang

Bhattacharyya

Parrondo

et al. 2016

Chemical Engineering Science

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“…The durability of indium tin oxide under PEMFC conditions was examined in further studies. Wang et al 61 investigated Pt on very similar materials like in this work. Pt on 22 nm ITO particles (here, 23 nm ITO particles from XRD) and Pt supported on Vulcan XC72R (here, the same carbon black type) were compared.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Stability of Pt Nanoparticles on Alternative Carbon Supports for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Schonvogel

Hülstede

Wagner

et al. 2017

J. Electrochem. Soc.

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Pt supported on carbon black, commonly used as PEM fuel cell catalyst, underlies electrochemical instabilities in terms of carbon corrosion and platinum degradation. To better understand the influence of the support on nature and extent of catalyst aging, Pt was synthesized on four different substrates: Carbon black, multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and a nanocomposite of indium tin oxide with rGO (ITO-rGO). The four Pt catalysts and the separate supports were studied on their durability using an accelerated stress test (AST, −0.02-1.40 V SHE ). Comparable platinum degradation was shown by losses of electrochemically active surface area (EASA) and activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and by identical location transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM). With respect to the supports, highest instability of carbon black was observed investigating the double layer capacitance and amounts of hydroquinone (HQ) species. MWCNTs showed the lowest degradation. Thus, AST provoked strongly different extents of support aging but similar Pt degradation. In view of complex FC catalyst degradation mechanism, only negligible Pt detachment caused by support degradation and rather dominating Pt dissolution and agglomerationadditionally evidenced by IL-TEM-is assumed here. Regarding ITO-rGO, neither carbon support nor platinum stabilization by ITO nanoparticles has been observed. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are attractive for stationary, portable and automotive applications.1,2 Short response times and simple cell design with low weight and solid electrolyte membranes are some advantages of PEMFCs, especially for the automotive sector. Good performance and high lifetimes are two important criteria for commercialization of fuel cells. Low temperature PEMFCs can reach power densities about 680 mWcm −2 , 3 higher than the power densities of other fuel cell types.1 However, a challenge is the loss of performance with operation time.2,4 The better understanding of physical, thermal, mechanical, chemical and electrochemical processes, leading to the aging of fuel cell components, is indispensable and is therefore one main issue of current fuel cell research. 2,[5][6][7][8] Platinum supported on carbon black represents the commonly used catalyst in fuel cells. Under PEMFC conditions at low pH values and cell voltages of around 1.0 V during no-load or 1.4 V during startstop operation, 9 dissolution of platinum becomes relevant. Pt oxides are formed at potentials higher than 0.6 V SHE , 10 whereas Pt oxides or metallic Pt can dissolve.2 Dissolved Pt underlies Ostwald ripening or simply leaves the cell with the exhaust water stream. Pt ions can migrate into the membrane and be reduced to metallic platinum. 11Especially at potentials above 0.95 V SHE oxygen atoms can replace Pt atoms, so that potential cycling can lead to significant changes of the catalyst particle structure. 2Also instabilities of the catalyst support can result in a reduction of cell performance. Corrosion of carbo...

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“…For all the materials prepared we observed that some Pt atoms dispersed on the surface support although, the presence of agglomerated nanoparticles was a majority. Literature describes that commercial ITO has very low area and large distribution in particles size, it is very difficult to get well‐dispersed and uniform Pt‐catalysed ITO support .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Glycerol and Methanol Electro‐oxidation at Pt/C‐ITO under Alkaline Condition

et al. 2016

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Thec ontinued reduction of fossil fuels together with the more stringent environmental protection legislation has been the focal point for the search for alternative energy sources. Fuel cell technology has obtained increasing attention as it can directly convert chemical energy from fuel into electrical energy,w ithout combustion, at high efficiencya nd low pollution [1,2].R ecently,d irect alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs)h ave attracted enormous attentionf or their high energy density,e fficiency, simple operation at room temperature and simple storage of liquid fuels and fuel purification [ 3,4].DAFCs efficiencies are vary according to specific characteristics,b eing the choice of the fuel, anode catalyst and, corresponding catalyst support of utmost importance [5,6].T hese characteristics makea lcohols attractive liquid fuels for the majorityo fp romising alternative power sources for transportation, portable electronics and stationary applications [7].T he most common DAFC is the direct methanolf uel cell (DMFC) and severalw orks in the recent years have been performed on the electron oxidation of methanol [8] and ethanol [9][10][11].Recently,g lycerol has emerged as ap otential fuel to feed anodes of DAFCs,d irect glycerolf uel cell (DGFC), due to its high theoretical energya nd availability,s ince it is am assive co-product of biodiesel fabrication [12].I mproved alcohol oxidation kinetics in the electrolyte can also be facilitated in the alkalinem edia rather than in the acid media. This can help to overcomet he kineticc onstraintsi nt he alcohol oxidation for operating DAFCs [13,14].O ne of the most criticalp oints of DAFCs performance are the electrocatalysts,d ue to this,m uch effort has been devoted to the development of new materials in order to overcome this problem.Pt-basede lectrocatalysts are the most universal type applied in DAFCs because they have high catalytica ctivity,g ood chemical stability and large currentd ensity.A lthough, theya lso have certain limitations such as high cost, easy poisoning by the adsorbed reaction intermediates [3],a mong other factors.A nother approachf or improving the Pt efficiency has been the search of different support materials that may be appliedf or electrocatalysts synthesis.C arbon nanomaterials with several shapesa nd structures such as nanostructured, carbon black, carbon nanofibers,m esoporousc arbon and carbon nanotubes, have been used as support for metal nanoparticles improving their electrocatalytic performance [15].OrdóÇez et al. [16] prepared aP te lectrocatalyst supported ontom ulti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC)a pplication. Thea uthors described that CNTsi ncreased the activity of the Pt electrocatalyst and, in as ingle fuel cell tests occurred Abstract:Aphysical mixture composed by carbon Vulcan XC 72 and indiumt in oxide( ITO) with different ratios (85 :15; 50 :50; 85 :15) was used as support for platinum nanoparticles synthesis by borohydride reduction method. Thecharacterization of thiselectrocatalyst was pe...

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Indium Tin Oxide as Catalyst Support for PEM Fuel Cell: RDE and MEA Performance

Cited by 8 publications

References 69 publications

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the degradation of Pt/ITO electrocatalyst in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of the degradation of Pt/ITO electrocatalyst in an operating polymer electrolyte fuel cell

Stability of Pt Nanoparticles on Alternative Carbon Supports for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Glycerol and Methanol Electro‐oxidation at Pt/C‐ITO under Alkaline Condition

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