Pt-Ir/TiC Electrocatalysts for PEM Fuel Cell/Electrolyzer Process

Abstract

Electrocatalysts for the bifunctional oxygen electrode for a PEM fuel cell/electrolyzer process need to be active and stable toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). In this work, Pt-Ir was synthesized supported on TiC and studied as a viable candidate to use as an oxygen electrode. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were performed to measure electrochemical activity and compared with supported Pt and Ir on TiC, as well as commercial forms of unsupported Pt and Ir. It was determined that Pt-Ir on TiC outperformed the other electrocatalysts studied with a round trip efficiency of 65%.

The stability of TiC surfaces in the environment with various carbon chemical potential and surface defects

“…[11][12][13] Recently, Chen et al [14] proved that the using of TiC as a support can significantly reduce the consumption of Pt for the HER (Hydrogen Evolution Reaction) . Roderick et al [15] have proved that Pt-Ir on TiC surpassed the other electrocatalysts with a round trip efficiency of 65% in the experiment for the PEM fuel cell/electrolyzer process.…”

Advanced catalyst supports for PEM fuel cell cathodes

“…General properties of non-carbon support (mainly ceramic materials) include corrosion-resistance, potential strong metal-support interaction, and stable porous structure, but these materials suffer from low electrical conductivity and low porosity. Several types of non-carbon supports have been investigated, including titanium oxide [79][80][81][82][83], cerium oxide [84,85], niobium oxide [86], tungsten oxide [87][88][89], some carbides [90][91][92][93][94][95][96], nitrides [97], oxy-nitrides [98], borides [99] and conductive polymer [100,101]. Figure 4a gives typical polarization curves of the PEM fuel cells using Pt/TiO 2 and Pt/C as electrocatalysts [80].…”

Recent Perspectives and Crucial Challenges on Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell (URFC)

“…One of the most crucial disadvantages of the URFC system is the cost of the materials used. The high cost is associated with the use of rare platinum (Pt) metal on the surface of bifunctional electrocatalyst and the cost of the polymer electrolyte in the cell region (Fuentes et al 2014;Vesborg and Jaramillo 2012). Figure 4 describes the analysis of the cost status of fuel cell stack at 500,000 systems per year as compared to the cost in the 2020 targets.…”

“…Table 5 summarizes the compilation of electrocatalyst supports previously studied. Titanium carbide and nitride are shown to be superior to the conventional Pt-based catalyst (Fuentes et al 2014;García et al 2013;Roca-Ayats et al 2014). Iridium oxide compounds were fabricated in different methods and revealed higher OER and ORR activity compared to Pt/C catalyst (Kim et al 2015;Kong et al 2012a).…”