In recent years, palladium (Pd) has been extensively studied for a possible alternative for Pt that has been most commonly used as a catalyst in fuel cells. However, Pd shows lower activity than Pt towards the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and also exhibits poor tolerance toward carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning occurring in the anode process. To improve its performance, alloying Pd with other transition metals has been suggested as one of promising solutions as the Pd-based alloys have been found to boost the ORR activity and yield significant improvement in the CO tolerance. However, a detailed understanding of the alloying effects is still lacking, despite its importance in designing and developing new and more cost effective fuel cell catalysts. This is in large part due to the difficulty of direct characterization. Alternatively, computational approaches based on quantum mechanics have emerged as a powerful and flexible means to unravel the complex alloying effects in multimetallic catalysts; such first principles-based computational studies have provided many invaluable insights into the mechanisms of catalytic reactions occurring on the alloy surfaces. Using first-principles density-functional theory calculations, we have examined the surface reactivity of Pd-based bimetallic catalysts with the aim of better understanding the alloying effects in association with atomic arrangement, facet, local strain, ligand interaction, and effective atomic coordination number at the surface. More specifically, this thesis work has focused on examining the following topics: Role of Pd ensembles in selective H₂O₂ formation on AuPd alloys; Effect of local strain and low-coordination number at the surface on the performance of Pd monomer in selective H₂O₂ formation; Different facet effects on the activity of Pd ensembles towards ORR; Structure of ternary Pd-Ir-Co alloys and its reactivity towards ORR; Pd ensembles effects on CO oxidation on CO-precovered Pd ensembles; Role of ligand and ensembles in determining CO chemisorptions on AuPd and AuPt. Our first principles-based theoretical investigation of bimetallic alloys offers some insights into the rational design and development of alloyed catalysts. / text

abstract: With a recent shift to a more environmentally conscious society, low-carbon and non-carbon producing energy production methods are being investigated and applied all over the world. Of these methods, fuel cells show great potential for clean energy production. A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device which directly converts chemical energy into electrical energy. Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a highly researched energy source for automotive and stationary power applications. In order to produce the power required to meet Department of Energy requirements, platinum (Pt) must be used as a catalyst material in PEMFCs. Platinum, however, is very expensive and extensive research is being conducted to develop ways to reduce the amount of platinum used in PEMFCs. In the current study, three catalyst synthesis techniques were investigated and evaluated on their effectiveness to produce platinum-on copper (Pt@Cu) core-shell nanocatalyst on multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) support material. These three methods were direct deposition method, two-phase surfactant method, and single-phase surfactant method, in which direct deposition did not use a surfactant for particle size control and the surfactant methods did. The catalyst materials synthesized were evaluated by visual inspection and fuel cell performance. Samples which produced high fuel cell power output were evaluated using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging. After evaluation, it was concluded that the direct deposition technique was effective in synthesizing Pt@Cu core-shell nanocatalyst on MWCNTs support when a rinsing process was used before adding platinum. The peak power density achieved by the rinsed core-shell catalyst was 618 mW.cm-2 , 13 percent greater than that of commercial platinum-carbon (Pt/C) catalyst. Transmission electron microscopy imaging revealed the core-shell catalyst contained Pt shells and platinum-copper alloy cores. Rinsing with deionized (DI) water was shown to be a crucial step in core-shell catalyst deposition as it reduced the number of platinum colloids on the carbon nanotube surface. After evaluation, it was concluded that the two-phase surfactant and single-phase surfactant synthesis methods were not effective at producing core-shell nanocatalyst with the parameters investigated. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S.Tech Technology 2012

The diploma thesis concerns the study of catalytic layers Pt-CeOx used in Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. Employing a Transmission Electron Microscope and Near-Ambient Pressure Photoelectron Spectroscopy, morphology, particle size distribution, chemical composition, and effects of fuel cell conditions were studied. This work contributes to the clarification of the dynamic character of the prepared catalytic layers in reactive conditions, which is essential for understanding their catalytic activity and durability.

The production of components in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is a widely researched topic and still has a lot of potential for optimization. Especially the reduction of used materials like ionomer and platinum in fuel cell electrodes and the improvement of their performance are highly desired. In this study we discuss the potential of structured cathode catalyst layers by introducing a through plane ionomer gradient. For this purpose different catalyst layers with a platinum loading of 0.25 mg/cm2 have been produced by screen printing, followed by extensive In-Situ characterization in a fuel cell test bench. The results show that combining high amounts of ionomer at the membrane/electrode interface, and decreasing amounts towards the gas diffusion layer enable a good protonic connection of the catalyst layer to the membrane while improving the performance in the high current area due to lower diffusion resistance. This trend was also supported by limiting current measurements, showing increasing diffusion resistances with higher ionomer contents at the gas diffusion layer interface.