DEVELOPMENT OF GOLD ELECTROCATALYS FOR ALKALINE MEDIA

HIGH PERFORMANCE, LOW COST OXYGEN ELECTROCATALYSTS ARE RE- QUIRED FOR NUMEROUS COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART OXYGEN ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR ALKALINE MEDIA CON- SIST OF HIGHLY LOADED, UNSUPPORTED GOLD AND WERE DEVELOPED FOR SPECIAL SPACE APPLICATIONS WHERE COST IS NOT THE CRITIC-CAL ISSUE. THIS PROGRAM ADDRESSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH PERFORMANCE, LOW COST GOLD ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. THIS RESEARCH WILL ESTABLISH THE STRUCTURE SENSITIVITY OF THE OXYGEN ELECTROREDUCTION REACTION ON WELL CHARACTERIZED GOLD SINGLE CRYSTAL SURFACES. IN PARALLEL, THE VARIATION OF STRUCTURE WITH PARTICLE SIZE FOR GOLD COLLOIDAL DISPERSIONS OF 20 TO 1200A PARTICLE DIAM-ETER WILL BE ESTABLISHED. BY UNDERSTANDING THE PERFORMANCE VERSUS PARTICLE SIZE RELATIONSHIPS, THE OPTIMUM COLLOIDAL DISPERSION TO PREPARE SUPPORTED GOLD ELECTROCATALYSTS WILL BE ESTABLISHED BY THE END OF ALL PHASES OF THE PROPOSED PRO-GRAM.