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Negligible degradation upon in situ voltage cycling of a PEMFC using an electrospun niobium-doped tin oxide supported Pt cathode

journal contribution
posted on 2015-07-14, 00:00 authored by I Savych, Surya SubiantoSurya Subianto, Y Nabil, S Cavaliere, D Jones, J Rozière
Novel platinum-catalysed, corrosion-resistant, loose-tube-structured electrocatalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells have been obtained using single-needle electrospinning associated with a microwave-assisted polyol method. Monodisperse platinum particles supported on Nb–SnO2 demonstrated higher electrochemical stability than conventional Pt/C electrodes during ex situ potential cycling and comparable activity in the oxygen reduction reaction. In situ fuel cell operation under accelerated stress test conditions of a membrane electrode assembly elaborated using a Pt/C anode and Pt/Nb–SnO2 cathode confirmed that the voltage loss is significantly lower for the novel cathode than for an MEA prepared using conventional Pt/C supported electrocatalysts. Furthermore, the Nb–SnO2 stabilised the supported platinum nanoparticles against dissolution, migration and reprecipitation in the membrane. Pt/Nb–SnO2 loose-tubes constitute a mitigation strategy for two known degradation mechanisms in PEMFC: corrosion of the carbon support at the cathode, and dissolution of Pt at high cell voltages.

History

Journal

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Volume

17

Issue

26

Article number

26

Pagination

16970 - 16976

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

Location

Cambridge, Eng.

ISSN

1463-9076

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2015, Royal Chemistry Society