Enhancing the CO tolerance of Pt/C as PEM fuel cell anode catalyst by modifying the catalyst synthesis method

Abstract

The most important challenge in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells is poisoning of the anode catalyst in the presence of impurities, especially carbon monoxide (CO) in the hydrogen feed. So, synthesis of catalysts with high CO tolerance is important for the commercialization of PEM fuel cells. In this study, a common borohydride reduction method was modified to synthesize a carbon supported Platinum Nanocatalyst (Pt/C) with a higher stability in the presences of CO impurity compared to a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) test procedure was used to evaluate the catalyst's resistance to long-term CO exposure. The results showed that the synthesized catalyst's electrochemical activity for CO electro-oxidation was comparable to commercial Pt/C under the same conditions. Moreover, the endurance of our catalyst for CO electro-oxidation after 100 CV with continuous CO gas bubbling is remarkable compared to the commercial catalyst performance, which dropped about 88 percent from its initial amounts.