Investigating the durability of a direct methanol fuel cell equipped with commercial Platinum Group Metal-free cathodic electro-catalysts. (20th October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lo Vecchio, C.; Serov, A.; Dicome, M.; Zulevi, B.; Aricò, A.S.; Baglio, V.
• Is Part Of: Electrochimica acta. Volume 394(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10-20
• Subjects: Pgm-free catalyst -- Direct methanol fuel cell -- Durability -- Oxygen reduction -- Fuel cell; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; Electrochemistry, Industrial -- Periodicals; 541.37
• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.139108
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4686

Abstract

Abstract: For the first time a long-term (500 h) durability study in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) is carried out on a Platinum Group Metal-free (PGM-free) cathodic electro-catalyst commercially available on market. The electro-catalyst is tested for 500 h at a fixed cell voltage (0.3 V), recording the polarization curves during the operation. A drastic decrease in performance is observed after the first 100 h (from 220 to 75 mA cm −2 ); afterwards, the decrease is flatter, passing from 75 to 25 mA cm −2 (at 500 h). The causes of this performance degradation are investigated by postmortem physicochemical analyzes, such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with X-ray energy dispersive analysis (EDX). Possible reasons of degradation are indicated to be PGM-free catalyst aggregation, carbon and nitrogen species decrease, Ruthenium dissolution and migration from the anode to the cathode, poisoning both membrane and cathode catalyst.