Plasma sputtering deposition of platinum into porous fuel cell electrodes

Brault, Pascal; Caillard, Amaël; Thomann, Anne-Lise; Mathias, Jacky; Charles, Christine; Boswell, Roderick; Escribano, Sylvie; Durand, J.; Sauvage, Thierry

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/37/24/010

Cited by 85 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…As can be seen, evaporation of 3 nm Pt on GDL results in a non-continuous Pt film of separated nanoparticles, roughly 3-6 nm in size. This result agrees well with previously presented data for physical deposition of Pt on porous carbon supports [46,48]. The separated nanoparticles are the result of the fact that Pt growth proceeds via the formation of isolated nanoparticles due to Pt atom surface diffusion on the carbon support [48].…”

Section: Materials Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…This result agrees well with previously presented data for physical deposition of Pt on porous carbon supports [46,48]. The separated nanoparticles are the result of the fact that Pt growth proceeds via the formation of isolated nanoparticles due to Pt atom surface diffusion on the carbon support [48]. It can also be noted that the structure of this electrode is very similar to a conventional PEFC electrode and is thus a relevant model system.…”

Section: Materials Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Tungsten oxide in polymer electrolyte fuel cell electrodes—A thin-film model electrode study

Wickman¹,

Wesselmark²,

Lagergren³

et al. 2011

Electrochimica Acta

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a b s t r a c tThin films of WO x and Pt on WO x were evaporated onto the microporous layer of a gas diffusion layer (GDL) and served as model electrodes in the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) as well as in liquid electrolyte measurements. In order to study the effects of introducing WO x in PEFC electrodes, precise amounts of WO x (films ranging from 0 to 40 nm) with or without a top layer of Pt (3 nm) were prepared. The structure of the thin-film model electrodes was characterized by scanning electron microscopy and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy prior to the electrochemical investigations. The electrodes were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and the electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and CO oxidation was examined. The impact of Nafion in the electrode structure was examined by comparing samples with and without Nafion solution sprayed onto the electrode. Fuel cell measurements showed an increased amount of hydrogen tungsten bronzes formed for increasing WO x thicknesses and that Pt affected the intercalation/deintercalation process, but not the total amount of bronzes. The oxidation of pre-adsorbed CO was shifted to lower potentials for WO x containing electrodes, suggesting that Pt-WO x is a more CO-tolerant catalyst than Pt. For the HOR, Pt on thicker films of WO x showed an increased limiting current, most likely originating from the increased electrochemically active surface area due to proton conductivity and hydrogen permeability in the WO x film. From measurements in liquid electrolyte it was seen that the system behaved very differently compared to the fuel cell measurements. This exemplifies the large differences between the liquid electrolyte and fuel cell systems. The thin-film model electrodes are shown to be a very useful tool to study the effects of introducing new materials in the PEFC catalysts. The fact that a variety of different measurements can be performed with the same electrode structure is a particular strength.

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Section: Materials Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Materials Characterizationsupporting

confidence: 91%

Tungsten oxide in polymer electrolyte fuel cell electrodes—A thin-film model electrode study

Wickman¹,

Wesselmark²,

Lagergren³

et al. 2011

Electrochimica Acta

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“…Nanoporous carbons are one of the most currently used physical supports for catalysts deposition [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. In the future, due to environmental concerns, both the catalyst usage conditions and catalyst preparation methods will suffer from severe international rules.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon/platinum nanotextured films produced by plasma sputtering

Rabat

Andreazza

Brault

et al. 2009

Carbon

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Platinum loaded carbon layers were synthesized by a two-step plasma sputtering process. 200 nm thick columnar (columns with an average diameter of 20 nm) carbon films having a large open porosity were formed in the first step. Using the same plasma system, the films were subsequently loaded with platinum. SEM, TEM and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry analysis show that platinum diffuses into the carbon layer and forms nano-sized particles (mean diameter ca. 3 nm) along and around the carbon nanocolumns and down to the film/support interface. Optimized catalytic layers were formed at low plasma pressure operation (<1 Pa) and had an upper platinum loading limit of about 0.1 mg.cm -2 .

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“…Pascal Brault (1) (Pascal.Brault@univ-orleans.fr), Jean-Marc Bauchire (1) , Amaël Caillard (1) , Anne-Lise Thomann (1) , Mathieu Mougenot (1,2) , Christophe Coutanceau (3) , Steve Baranton (3) , Pascal Andreazza (4) , Caroline Andreazza-Vignolle (4) , François James (5) et Christophe Josserand (6) …”

Section: Les Piles à Combustibleunclassified

“…Les réactions électrochimiques n'ont lieu que dans les zones de triple contact entre le platine, le carbone (éléments constituant les électrodes) et la membrane ( fig. E2) >>> charges de catalyseur [1][2][3][4]. Ce dernier point est extrêmement important, car le catalyseur le plus effi cace est le platine dont le coût est très élevé : 40 € le gramme (février 2012).…”

Section: Pulvérisation Plasmaunclassified