ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR HIGH EFFICIENCY SOLID POLYMER ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELL

A NOVEL PLATINUM CATALYST PREPARATION TECHNIQUE WILL BE APPLIED TO DEVELOP ELECTRODES FOR SOLID-POLYMER-ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS (SPEFC). PREVIOUS WORK HAS SHOWN THAT THIS NOVEL TECHNIQUE RESULTS IN HIGH UTILIZATION OF PLATINUM. WITH THIS TECHNIQUE, LOW-PLATINUM-CONTENT ELECTRODES HAVE BEEN PREPARED WITH EQULVALENT PERFORMANCE TO STATE-OF-THE-ART SPEFC ELECTRODES CONTAINING 80 TIMES MORE PLATINUM. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AND EXTEND THIS TECHNIQUE TO PREPARE HIGH-PLATINUM-CONTENT (I.E., EQUIVALENT TO STATE-OF-THE-ART PLATINUM CONTENTS) ELECTRODES WITH IMPROVED EFFICIENCY. SUCH ELECTRODES ARE CRITICAL ENABLING COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY, REGENERATIVE FUEL CELLS. A NOVEL PLATINUM CATALYST PREPARATION TECHNIQUE WILL BE APPLIED TO DEVELOP ELECTRODES FOR SOLID-POLYMER-ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS (SPEFC). PREVIOUS WORK HAS SHOWN THAT THIS NOVEL TECHNIQUE RESULTS IN HIGH UTILIZATION OF PLATINUM. WITH THIS TECHNIQUE, LOW-PLATINUM-CONTENT ELECTRODES HAVE BEEN PREPARED WITH EQULVALENT PERFORMANCE TO STATE-OF-THE-ART SPEFC ELECTRODES CONTAINING 80 TIMES MORE PLATINUM. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AND EXTEND THIS TECHNIQUE TO PREPARE HIGH-PLATINUM-CONTENT (I.E., EQUIVALENT TO STATE-OF-THE-ART PLATINUM CONTENTS) ELECTRODES WITH IMPROVED EFFICIENCY. SUCH ELECTRODES ARE CRITICAL ENABLING COMPONENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY, REGENERATIVE FUEL CELLS.