Suppressed Activity of Pt Catalyst in The Environment of PEMFC

摘要

Increasing demand for energy, energy security and the need to minimize the impact on the environment related to energy are the major drivers for the research and development of alternative energy technologies. Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is a promising alternative technology. But some compositions (such as Nafion, IPA, etc)will be introduced into catalyst layer in PEMFC intended or unintended. Therefore there is a concern about that Pt catalyst is able to keep its activity with coexistence of these components in PEMFC. This research was carried out to investigate the influence of Nafion and isopropyl alcohol(IPA) on the activity of Pt disk and Pt/C nanoparticle electrodes. The results show that Nafion has no influence on the instinct ORR activity on Pt but will block the oxygen transport and slow down the ORR velocity. In contrast to Nafion, IPA significantly suppresses the ORR activity on Pt.