• Fikry, Meriem
• Herranz, Juan
• Khavlyuk, Pavel
• Eychmuller, Alexander
• Schmidt, Thomas J.
• Leisibach, Simon

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Unsupported, Pt-based electrocatalysts hold great potential for implementation in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC-) cathodes owing to their enhanced durability under startup-shutdown conditions entailing high potential excursions. Among such materials, the recently developed Pt-Ni aerogel consisting of tridimensional nanochains of interconnected nanoparticles has already been shown to feature an initial PEMFC–performance comparable to that of C-supported Pt-nanoparticles (Pt/C) along with a much better startup/shutdown durability. However, all PEMFC characterization of this material has been carried out at 80°C and using fully-humidified gases, and its behavior under more demanding conditions concomitant to its potential implementation for automotive applications remains unexplored. Thus, in this work aerogel catalyst layers (CLs) are characterized under a wide range of temperatures and relative humidities, as well as submitted to fast current up-transients. These extensive tests showed that the performance of the aerogel CLs is comparable to that of a commercial Pt/C benchmark, except at high current densities and low temperatures at which the thin aerogel layers suffer from a low water storage capacity.</jats:p>

Topics

• nanoparticle
• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• durability