Inert metal encapsulation of magnetic particles for improved magnetic field effects at fuel cell electrodes

"Magnetic field-enhanced electrocatalysis at the hydrogen and air electrodes of PEM fuel cells have reported improved power densities, three-fold over conventional PEMFCs. Leddy, et al. used micron-sized polymer-encapsulated beads of permanent magnetsplaced in conventional inks of carbon-supported platinum electrocatalysts to enhance MEA performance. Their work showed a qualitatively improved CO tolerance with the magnetically assisted MEA single cell using hydrogen fuel containing 100-ppm CO. Theirmagnetic electrode with 0.4 mg Pt/cm2 showed performance equal to that for Pt/Ru catalyst, both in tolerating the CO and in recovery when refueled by pure hydrogen.A more quantitative understanding of the effect of the magnetic field has been hindered by uncertainty about the distances between the platinum and the magnetic fields and the irreproducible distribution of gaps due to magnetic aggregation.This proposal will demonstrate that the magnetic effect on electrokinetics is quantifiable when the precious metal catalyst layer is deposited directly on the encapsulated magnetic particle.We have developed a method of coupling the catalyst directly to the magnetic source; the platinum can then be uniformly deployed with each magnetic particle to provide the improvements in the quantitative analysis. These electrodes will be compared to thetypical Pt/Ru MEA regime. A successful program would benefit not only the countries air quality but also reduce our dependence on foreign oil importation. Commercial applications include portable consumer electronics, onboard power for microelectronic chips and memory devices,electric vehicles, and off-grid distributed power sources for homes."