Mechanism of Catalyst Degradation in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

A mechanism of catalyst particle growth in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) by Ostwald ripening is presented. Particle growth occurs as a coupled process involving platinum ion transport through aqueous liquid and/or ionomer, and electron transport through a carbon support. The dominating factor in degradation of a catalyst supported on carbon is the presence of platinum ions in solution (in liquid and/or in ionomer). Experiments were conducted on commercial PEMFC electrodes in three liquids, PtCl 4 solution, dilute acid solution, and deionized water. Pt particle size grew from ∼4 nm to >20 nm after 1 week in PtCl 4 solution. By contrast, no detectable growth occurred in dilute acid or in deionized water. This demonstrates that the higher the Pt ion concentration, the faster the kinetics. The role of electronic conduction through support was verified by conducting experiments in PtCl 4 solution on Pt supported on an electronically insulating material, namely alumina. While significant growth occurred in Pt supported on carbon, no detectable growth occurred in Pt supported on alumina. This observation is in complete accord with the model, and demonstrates the role of electronic transport on degradation. That is, when supported on alumina, lack of an electronically conducting path suppresses degradation even with PtCl 4 present in solution.

[1]  P. He,et al.  Characterization of Catalyst Layer Structural Changes in PEMFC as a Function of Durability Testing , 2006 .

[2]  I. Prigogine,et al.  Book Review: Modern Thermodynamics: From Heat Engines to Dissipative Structures , 1998 .

[3]  Hubert A. Gasteiger,et al.  Instability of Pt ∕ C Electrocatalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells A Mechanistic Investigation , 2005 .

[4]  Shimshon Gottesfeld,et al.  Surface Area Loss of Supported Platinum in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells , 1993 .

[5]  Kazuhiko Shinohara,et al.  Phenomenon Analysis of PEFC for Automotive Use(1) Membrane Degradation Behavior During OCV Hold Test , 2006 .

[6]  Liang Hong,et al.  Carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles as catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells , 2005 .

[7]  R. Borup,et al.  Identifying Contributing Degradation Phenomena in PEM Fuel Cell Membrane Electride Assemblies Via Electron Microscopy , 2006 .

[8]  I. Lifshitz,et al.  The kinetics of precipitation from supersaturated solid solutions , 1961 .

[9]  Robert M. Darling,et al.  Kinetic Model of Platinum Dissolution in PEMFCs , 2003 .

[10]  Antonino S. Aricò,et al.  Accelerated Degradation Tests for Pt/C Catalysts in Sulfuric Acid , 2006 .

[11]  H. Gasteiger,et al.  Activity benchmarks and requirements for Pt, Pt-alloy, and non-Pt oxygen reduction catalysts for PEMFCs , 2005 .

[12]  Serguei N. Lvov,et al.  Nafion ∕ TiO2 Proton Conductive Composite Membranes for PEMFCs Operating at Elevated Temperature and Reduced Relative Humidity , 2005 .

[13]  Deborah J. Myers,et al.  Effect of voltage on platinum dissolution : Relevance to polymer electrolyte fuel cells , 2006 .

[14]  B. Cullity,et al.  Elements of X-ray diffraction , 1957 .

[15]  O. F. Devereux Topics in Metallurgical Thermodynamics , 1983 .

[16]  K. Easterling,et al.  Phase Transformations in Metals and Alloys , 2021 .