Oxygen reduction at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface

Abstract A solid-state cell is used to study the electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface. The catalyst/membrane interface exhibits improved performance in comparison to a catalyst/aqueous sodium hydroxide interface. Surprisingly, the half-wave potential for oxygen reduction is shown to shift 185 mV higher at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface than for the silver/aqueous hydroxide solution interface, and the exchange current density is significantly higher at 1.02 × 10 −6  A m −2 . On a cost per performance basis, silver electrocatalysts in a hydroxide-exchange membrane fuel cell may provide better performance than platinum in a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell.

[1]  S. Holdcroft,et al.  Solid-state electrochemical oxygen reduction at Pt | Nafion® 117 and Pt | BAM3G 407 interfaces , 1998 .

[2]  A. Kucernak,et al.  Solid polymer electrolyte membrane composite microelectrode investigations of fuel cell reactions. II: voltammetric study of methanol oxidation at the nanostructured platinum microelectrode|Nafion® membrane interface , 2005 .

[3]  Lianwei Wang,et al.  Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry , 1960, Nature.

[4]  K. Kinoshita,et al.  Electrochemical Oxygen Technology , 1992 .

[5]  K. Gubbins,et al.  The Solubility and Diffusivity of Oxygen in Electrolytic Solutions , 1965 .

[6]  S. Machado,et al.  Electrochemical Determination of Roughness of Silver Electrode Surface , 1993 .

[7]  M. Chatenet,et al.  Oxygen reduction on silver catalysts in solutions containing various concentrations of sodium hydroxide – comparison with platinum , 2002 .

[8]  A. Kucernak,et al.  Investigations of fuel cell reactions at the composite microelectrode|solid polymer electrolyte interface. I. Hydrogen oxidation at the nanostructured Pt|Nafion® membrane interface , 2004 .

[9]  P. Ross,et al.  Oxygen reduction on silver low-index single-crystal surfaces in alkaline solution: rotating ring disk(Ag(hkl)) studies. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[10]  R. Slade,et al.  An electron-beam-grafted ETFE alkaline anion-exchange membrane in metal-cation-free solid-state alkaline fuel cells , 2006 .

[11]  R. Slade,et al.  Poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene)-Derived Radiation-Grafted Anion-Exchange Membrane with Properties Specifically Tailored for Application in Metal-Cation-Free Alkaline Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells , 2007 .

[12]  Robert C T Slade,et al.  Steady-state dc and impedance investigations of H2/O2 alkaline membrane fuel cells with commercial Pt/C, Ag/C, and Au/C cathodes. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[13]  A. Kucernak,et al.  Oxygen Reduction Studies of Templated Mesoporous Platinum Catalysts , 1999 .

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

[15]  J. Sobkowski,et al.  Effect of anions and pH on the adsorption and oxidation of methanol on a platinum electrode , 1992 .