Preparation of Nanoporous PdIrZn Alloy Catalyst by Dissolving Excess ZnO for Cathode of High- Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Dae Jong You, Do-Hyung Kim, Ji Man Kim and Chanho Pak
Additional contact information
Dae Jong You: Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Do-Hyung Kim: Graduate Program of Energy Technology, School of Integrated Technology, Institute of Integrated Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Korea
Ji Man Kim: Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea
Chanho Pak: Graduate Program of Energy Technology, School of Integrated Technology, Institute of Integrated Technology, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju 61005, Korea

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-11

Abstract: Carbon-supported nanoporous palladium-iridium–zinc (NP-PdIrZn) electrocatalyst was prepared through the modification of the alcohol-reduction process following the selective dissolution of excess ZnO nanoparticles using NaOH solution. The electrocatalyst was applied successfully to the cathode for a high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC). X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the NP-PdIrZn nanoparticles suggests formation of the ternary alloy and complete removal of ZnO without the formation of individual Pd, Ir, or Zn nanoparticles. Moreover, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images displayed porous nanoparticles with an irregular shape, which was generated by removing the ZnO from the PdIrZn–ZnO nanocomposites, and was prepared by using the excessive Zn precursor. The electrochemical surface area (ECSA) of the NP-PdIrZn catalysts was estimated by cyclic voltammetry using a rotating disk electrode method , and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity was evaluated by a linear sweep method. The NP-PdIrZn catalysts showed larger ECSA and higher ORR activity than those of the PdIr and PdIrZn catalysts, which may be attributed to the increased exposed surface area by selective etching of the ZnO in the composites. Furthermore, the NP-PdIrZn catalyst exhibited excellent performance (0.66 V) in a single cell under the HT-PEMFC condition than those of the PdIr (0.58 V) and PdIrZn (0.62 V) catalysts, indicating that geometric and electronic control of Pd-based alloy can improve the single-cell performance for the HT-PEMFC.

Keywords: PdIrZn alloys; nanoporous structure; oxygen reduction reaction; cathode; high-temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/21/4155/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/21/4155/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:21:p:4155-:d:281964

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().