Oxygen reduction reaction kinetics on a Pt thin layer electrode in AEMFC

• The study of the catalytic activity in a fuel cell is challenging, as mass transport, gas crossover and the counterelectrode are generally interfering. In this study, a Pt electrode consisting of a thin film deposited on the gasdiffusion layer was employed to study the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an operating Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (AEMFC). The 2D Pt electrode was assembled together with a conventional porous Pt/Ccounter electrode and an extra Pt/C layer and membrane to reduce the H2 crossover. Polarization curves atdifferent O2 partial pressures were recorded and the resulting reproducible ORR activities were normalized withrespect to the active surface area (ECSA), obtained by CO stripping. As expected, decreasing the O2 partialpressure results in a negative shift in open circuit voltage (OCV), cell voltage and maximum attainable currentdensity. For cell voltages above 0.8 V a fairly constant Tafel slope of 60 mV dec−1 was recorded but at lowervoltages the slope increases rapidly. The observed Tafel slope can be explained by a theoretical model with anassociative mechanism where charge- and proton-transfer steps are decoupled, and the proton transfer is the rate-determining step. A reaction order of 1 with respect to O2 was obtained at 0.65 V which corresponds well withthe mechanism suggested above. Based on the obtained catalyst activities, the electrode performance is com­parable to good porous electrodes found in the field. The methodology presented in this study is expected to beuseful in future kinetic studies of other catalysts for AEMFC.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Kemiteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Chemical Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Oorganisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Inorganic Chemistry (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Kemiteknik -- Annan kemiteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Chemical Engineering -- Other Chemical Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Annan kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Other Chemistry Topics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Anion exchange membrane fuel cells

Platinum thin film

Oxygen reduction reaction kinetics

Chemical Engineering

Kemiteknik

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