Development of Non-Platinum Metal Catalysts for Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

The development of non-platinum metal catalysts used in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) has been considered as a key to bring the fuel cell devices to practical applications. This paper presents the achievement in developing non-platinum metal catalysts including bimetallic palladium-nickel nanoparticles attached on Vulcan carbon particles (PdNi/C) and silver nanoparticles supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Ag/MWCNT) employed in the anode and cathode electrodes of AEMFCs, respectively. These catalysts were synthesized by a wet impregnation method. The SEM analysis showed that the nanoparticle sizes of Pd, Ni, and Ag were less than 50 nm. The electrochemical characterizations of the synthesized PdNi/C and Ag/MWCNT were explored by cyclic voltammetry measurements. In addition, the prepared catalyst performance was evaluated using a single anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The measured results showed that the cell performance of a single H2/O2 AEMFC with PdNi/C and Ag/MWCNT in anode and cathode electrodes, respectively, exhibited a peak power density of about 463 mW·cm-1, which was lower about 24.1% than that of the single-cell containing Pt/C (~610 mW·cm-1) at both anode and cathode sides, indicating that the PdNi/C và Ag/MWCNT catalysts can be used to substitute Pt/C in AEMFCs for cost reduction.