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Kinetics of the Hydrogen Oxidation in Alkaline and Acid Electrolytes
Last modified: 2014-10-14
Abstract
The development of alkaline membrane fuel cells based on alkaline membranes is one of the options to reduce the required amount of platinum, whereby the strong CO2 sensitivity of alkaline membranes is a significant challenge. While there are several non-noble metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline electrolytes which match the activity of platinum, the only currently known hydrogen oxidation catalysts are based on platinum or palladium. Furthermore, the activity of platinum is orders of magnitude lower than in acidic electrolytes, so that ultra-low platinum loading anodes which can be used in acidic electrolytes are not feasible in alkaline electrolytes. Therefore, the challenge to catalysis research for AMFCs is to develop more active hydrogen oxidation catalysts. In our presentation, we will compare the kinetics of the hydrogen oxidation/evolution reaction (HOR/HOR) on platinum- group metal catalysts in alkaline and acid electrolytes, determined by rotating disk electrode measurements in liquid electrolytes and hydrogen-pump measurements in fuel cells. The roughly 100-fold differences in the HOR/HER kinetics will be discussed.
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