Electrosorption and catalytic properties of bare and Pt modified single crystal and nanostructured Ru surfaces

Ensuring Stability of Anode Catalysts in PEMWE: From Material Design to Practical Application

Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolysis (PEMWE) has emerged as a clean and effective approach for the conversion and storage of renewable electricity, particularly due to its compatibility with fluctuating photovoltaic and wind power. However, the high cost and limited performance of iridium oxide catalysts (i. e. IrO2) used as anode catalyst in industrial PEM electrolyzers remain significant obstacles to widespread application. Although numerous low-cost and efficient alternative catalysts have been developed in laboratory research, comprehensive stability studies critical for industrial use are often overlooked. This leads to the failure of performance transfer from catalysts tested in liquid half-cell systems to those employed in PEM electrolyzers. This concept presents a thorough overview for the stability issues of anode catalysts in PEMWE, and discuss their degradation mechanisms in both liquid half-cell systems and PEM electrolyzers. We summarize the comprehensive protocols for assessment and characterization, analyze the effective strategies for stability optimization, and explore the opportunities for designing viable anode catalysts for PEM electrolyzers.

The Stability Challenges of Oxygen Evolving Catalysts: Towards a Common Fundamental Understanding and Mitigation of Catalyst Degradation

This Review addresses the technical challenges, scientific basis, recent progress, and outlook with respect to the stability and degradation of catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) operating at electrolyzer anodes in acidic environments with an emphasis on ion exchange membrane applications. First, the term "catalyst stability" is clarified, as well as current performance targets, major catalyst degradation mechanisms, and their mitigation strategies. Suitable in situ experimental methods are then evaluated to give insight into catalyst degradation and possible pathways to tune OER catalyst stability. Finally, the importance of identifying universal figures of merit for stability is highlighted, leading to a comprehensive accelerated lifetime test that could yield comparable performance data across different laboratories and catalyst types. The aim of this Review is to help disseminate and stress the important relationships between structure, composition, and stability of OER catalysts under different operating conditions.

Oxygen reduction electrocatalyst of Pt on Au nanoparticles through spontaneous deposition

A straightforward one-step spontaneous deposition approach for growth of Pt atomic shell on Au nanoparticles and the superior activity and durability of the resulted Pt-on-Au nanoparticles for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are reported. Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, and electrochemical measurements indicate that Pt can be spontaneously deposited on Au surface upon simply dispersing carbon-supported Au nanoparticles in PtCl42–-containing solution, without introducing any extraneous reducing agents or any pre/post-treatments. The deposited Pt atoms are uniformly distributed on the surface of Au nanoparticles, with coverage tunable by the concentration of PtCl42– and temperatures. An approximate monolayer of Pt forms at temperature of ca. 80 °C and PtCl42– concentrations of above 10–4 mol/L. The obtained Pt-on-Au core–shell nanoparticles catalyze the ORR with specific and mass activities of Pt that are 3.5 times higher than that of pure Pt nanoparticles. Moreover, they exhibit no visible activity degradation after undergoing long-term oxidization/reduction cycling in O2-saturated acid media, therefore showing great prospect as durable cathode electrocatalysts in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells.

Phase-segregated Pt-Ni chain-like nanohybrids with high electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation reaction

The phase-segregated Pt-Ni chain-like nanostructures, composed of monometallic counterparts attached to each other, were synthesized via a modified polyol process with the assistance of a small amount of PVP. The molar ratio between Pt and Ni was tuned by simply adjusting the feed ratio of the precursors. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results reveal that atomic diffusion occurred at the interface of the granular subunits. The negative shift of the Pt4f7/2 peak in the XPS spectra indicates the electron transfer from Ni to Pt atoms, while the strong peaks at around 855.7 eV suggest the surface oxidation of the Ni nanoparticles, which was further confirmed by the cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurement. The electrocatalytic activities of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) were found to be higher for the phase-segregated structures relative to those for pure Pt nanoparticles, and the activities followed the sequences of Pt1Ni1 > Pt3Ni1 ∼ Pt2Ni3 > pure Pt. We believe that the modified electronic structures and the existence of nickel hydroxide both contributed to the improved catalytic activities.

Electrochemical valorisation of glycerol

The worldwide glycerol stocks are increasing; to make the biodiesel industry sustainable economically, this chemical could be used as a secondary primary raw material. Electric energy or hydrogen and added-value-chemical cogeneration becomes more and more an important research topic for increasing economical and industrial interests towards electrochemical technologies. Studies on glycerol electrooxidation for fuel or electrolysis cell applications are scarce. The valorisation of glycerol is generally performed by organic chemistry reactions forming, for example, esters, glycerol carbonates, ethers, acetals or ketals. Glycerol oxidation is made up of complex pathway reactions that can produce a large number of useful intermediates or valuable fine chemicals with presently limited market impact due to expensive production processes. Many of these chemical oxidation routes lead to significant amounts of undesired by-products, and enzymatic processes are limited. Converse to classical heterogeneous processes, electrocatalytic oxidation processes can be tuned by controlling the nature, composition and structure of the electrocatalyts as well as the electrode potential. Such control may lead to very high selectivity and activity, avoiding or limiting product separation steps. The coupling of glycerol oxidation to produce chemicals with the oxygen reduction reaction in a fuel cell or water reduction reaction in an electrolysis cell on Pt-free catalysts results either in coproduction of electrical energy or hydrogen for energy storage.

Contrast and Synergy between Electrocatalysis and Heterogeneous Catalysis

The advances in spectroscopy and theory that have occurred over the past two decades begin to provide detailed in situ resolution of the molecular transformations that occur at both gas/metal as well as aqueous/metal interfaces. These advances begin to allow for a more direct comparison of heterogeneous catalysis and electrocatalysis. Such comparisons become important, as many of the current energy conversion strategies involve catalytic and electrocatalytic processes that occur at fluid/solid interfaces and display very similar characteristics. Herein, we compare and contrast a few different catalytic and electrocatalytic systems to elucidate the principles that cross-cut both areas and establish characteristic differences between the two with the hope of advancing both areas.

Strategies for the fabrication of porous platinum electrodes

Porous platinum is of high technological importance due to its various applications in fuel cells, sensors, stimulation electrodes, mechanical actuators and catalysis in general. Based on a discussion of the general principles behind the reduction of platinum salts and corresponding deposition processes this article discusses techniques available for platinum electrode fabrication. The numerous, different strategies available to fabricate platinum electrodes are reviewed and discussed in the context of their tuning parameters, strengths and weaknesses. These strategies comprise bottom-up approaches as well as top-down approaches. In bottom-up approaches nanoparticles are synthesized in a fi rst step by chemical, photochemical or sonochemical means followed by an electrode formation step by e.g. thin fi lm technology or network formation to create a contiguous and conducting solid electrode structure. In top-down approaches fabrication starts with an already conductive electrode substrate. Corresponding strategies enable the fabrication of substrate-based electrodes by e.g. electrodeposition or the fabrication of self-supporting electrodes by dealloying. As a further top-down strategy, this review describes methods to decorate porous metals other than platinum with a surface layer of platinum. This way, fabrication methods not performable with platinum can be applied to the fabrication of platinum electrodes with the special benefit of low platinum consumption.

Application of density functional theory to CO tolerance in fuel cells: a brief review

The large scale practical application of fuel cells in the hydrogen economy is possible only with a dramatic reduction of the cost and significant improvement of the electrocatalytic properties of the electrodes. This can be achieved through rational design of new materials, which requires an understanding of the microscopic mechanisms underlying electrocatalysis. We review briefly some applications of density functional theory (DFT) to this problem, with particular reference to the observed high CO tolerance of Pt-Ru-based anodes. These DFT-based calculations trace the changes in the surface electronic structure and the energy landscape induced by formation of Pt islets on facets of Ru nanoparticles which lead to the preferred diffusion of CO from Pt sites to Ru, where it exhibits a high rate of reaction with hydroxyls, which are generally present. We also consider the energetics of stabilization of the Pt islets on the Ru nanoparticles.

PtRu nanoparticle electrocatalyst with bulk alloy properties prepared through a sonochemical method

Properties of PtRu nanoparticles prepared using high-intensity sonochemistry are reported. Syntheses were carried out in tetrahydrofuran (THF) containing Ru3+ and Pt4+ in a fixed mole ratio of either 1:10 or 1:1. X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed sonocation produces an alloy phase and showed that the composition of the nanometer scale metal particles is close to the mole fraction of Ru3+ and Pt4+ in solution with deviations that tend toward Ru enrichment in the alloy phase. The materials gave responses that are similar in terms of peak potential and current density, referenced to the catalyst active surface area, to those of bulk alloys in voltammetry experiments involving CO stripping and CH3OH electrochemical oxidation in 0.1 M H2SO4. The results show that sonochemical methods have the potential to produce nanometer scale bimetallic electrocatalysts that possess alloy properties. The materials have application in mechanistic studies of fuel cell reactions and as platforms for the development of CO tolerant fuel cell catalyst.

Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Se-Modified Carbon-Supported Ru Nanoparticles for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

This work is part of a continued research aimed at the understanding of the promoting role of Se in the enhancement of the electrocatalytic activity of Ru in the oxygen reduction reaction. The objective of this paper is to systematically investigate the transformation of Ru nanoparticles upon their modification with the increasing amounts of Se. The Se-modified Ru/C samples with Se:Ru ratio from 0 to 1 were prepared by reacting carbon-supported Ru nanoparticles with SeO2 followed by reductive annealing and characterized using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, X-ray diffraction analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and extended X-ray absorption fine structure. The results suggest that Se strongly interacts with Ru, resulting in the chemical bond between Ru and Se and formation of Ru selenide clusters whose core at low Se content can be described as Ru2Se2O0.5. At Se:Ru = 1, high-resolution electron microscopy shows evidence of formation of core-shell particles, comprising a hexagonally packed Ru core and a Ru selenide shell with lamellar morphology. Modification of Ru nanoparticles with Se enhances their electrocatalytic activity in the oxygen reduction reaction, which is explained by the role of Se in inhibiting surface oxidation.

Determination of O[H] and CO Coverage and Adsorption Sites on PtRu Electrodes in an Operating PEM Fuel Cell

A special in situ PEM fuel cell has been developed to allow X-ray absorption measurements during real fuel cell operation. Variations in both the coverage of O[H] (O[H] indicates O and/or OH) and CO (applying a novel Deltamu(L3) = mu(L3)(V) - mu(L3)(ref) difference technique), as well as in the geometric (EXAFS) and electronic (atomic XAFS) structure of the anode catalyst, are monitored as a function of the current. In hydrogen, the N(Pt)(-)(Ru) coordination number increases much slower than the N(Pt)(-)(Pt) with increasing current, indicating a more reluctant reduction of the surface Pt atoms near the hydrous Ru oxide islands. In methanol, both O[H] and CO adsorption are separately visible with the Deltamu technique and reveal a drop in CO and an increase in OH coverage in the range of 65-90 mA/cm(2). With increasing OH coverage, the Pt-O coordination number and the AXAFS intensity increase. The data allow the direct observation of the preignition and ignition regions for OH formation and CO oxidation, during the methanol fuel cell operation. It can be concluded that both a bifunctional mechanism and an electronic ligand effect are active in CO oxidation from a PtRu surface in a PEM fuel cell.

A Coverage-Dependent Study of Pt Spontaneously Deposited onto Au and Ru Surfaces: Direct Experimental Evidence of the Ensemble Effect for Methanol Electro-Oxidation on Pt

Direct experimental evidence that can be unambiguously attributed to the need of an ensemble of a minimum number of neighboring Pt atoms for methanol electro-oxidation has been observed for the first time. This was realized by a Pt coverage-dependent investigation of methanol and CO electro-oxidation on Pt sites generated via spontaneous deposition onto both Au and Ru surfaces. CO stripping voltammograms also show clear evidence of a substantially strengthened CO-Pt bonding for submonolayer Pt deposited on the Au substrate over a range of ca. 0.22 to 0.77, which is in qualitative agreement with the theoretical prediction based on the Hammer-Nørskov d-band center model. However, the degree of the bond strengthening depends on the Pt coverage, being stronger for lower coverage. Additionally, evidence of an Ostwald ripening process for Pt islands formation has also been observed.

CO Oxidation on Pt-Modified Rh(111) Electrodes

The CO electro-oxidation reaction was studied on platinum-modified Rh(111) electrodes in 0.5 M H2SO4 using cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. The Pt-Rh(111) electrodes were generated during voltammetric cycles at 50 mV s(-1) in a 30 microM H2PtCl6 and 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. Surfaces generated by n deposition cycles were investigated (Ptn-Rh(111) with n=2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 16). The blank cyclic voltammograms of these surfaces are characterized by a pronounced sharpening of the hydrogen/(bi)sulfate adsorption/desorption peaks, typical for Rh(111), and the appearance of contributions between 0.1 and 0.4 V, which were ascribed to hydrogen/(bi)sulfate adsorption/desorption on the deposited platinum. At higher potentials, the surface oxidation of Rh(111) is enhanced by the presence of platinum. The structure of the Pt-modified electrodes was investigated by STM imaging. At low Pt coverages (Pt2-Rh(111)), monoatomically high islands are formed, which grow three dimensionally as the number of deposition cycles increases. After eight cycles, the monolayer islands have grown in diameter and range from mono- to multiatomic height. At even higher Pt coverage (Pt16-Rh(111)), the islands grow to particles of approx. 10 nm in diameter, which are 5-6 atoms high. The CO stripping voltammetry on these surfaces is characterized by two peaks: A low-potential, structure-insensitive peak, ascribed to CO reacting at the platinum monolayer islands, whose onset is shifted 150, 250, and 100 mV negatively with respect to pure Rh(111), Pt(111), and polycrystalline Pt, respectively, indicating the enhanced CO electro-oxidation properties of the Pt overlayer system. A peak at higher potentials displays strong structure sensitivity (particle-size effect) and was ascribed to CO reacting on the islands of multiatomic height. Current-time transients recorded on the surface with the highest amount of monolayer islands (Pt4-Rh(111)) also indicate enhanced CO-oxidation kinetics. Comparison of the Pt4-Rh(111) current-time transients recorded at 0.635, 0.675, and 0.750 V versus RHE (reversible hydrogen electrode) with those of pure Rh(111) and Pt(111) shows greatly reduced reaction times. A Cottrellian decay at long times indicates surface-diffusion-limited CO oxidation on the bare Rh(111) surface, while the peak visible at short times is indicative of CO reacting at the monolayer platinum islands. The results presented here show that, as indicated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the CO-adlayer oxidation for this system is enhanced compared to both pure Rh and Pt.

Platinum monolayer electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction: Effect of substrates, and long-term stability

We describe a novel concept for a Pt monolayer electrocatalyst and present the results of our electrochemical, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and scanning tunneling microscopy studies. The electrocatalysts were prepared by a new method for depositing Pt monolayers involving the galvanic displacement by Pt of an under potentially deposited Cu monolayer on substrates of Au (111), Ir(111), Pd(111), Rh(111) and Ru(0001) single crylstals, and Pd nanoparticles. The kinetics of O2 reduction showed significant enhancement with Pt monolayers on Pd(111) and Pd nanoparticle surfaces in comparisonwith the reaction on Pt(111) and Pt nanoparticles, respectively. This increase in catalytic activity is attributed partly to the decreased formation of PtOH, as shown by in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The results illustrate that placing a Pt monolayer on a suitable substrate of metal nanoparticles is an attractive way of designing better O2 reduction electrocatalysts with very low Pt contents.