Journal
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
Volume 8, Issue 19, Pages 4918-4924Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b02228
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell Technologies Office
- Los Alamos National Security, LLC [DE-AC52-06NA25396]
- Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy
- CNMS at Oak Ridge National Laboratory by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, U.S. Department of Energy
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Slow hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) kinetics on Pt under alkaline conditions is a significant technical barrier for the development of high-performance hydroxide exchange membrane fuel cells. Here we report that benzene adsorption on Pt is a major factor responsible for the sluggish HOR. Furthermore, we demonstrate that bimetallic catalysts, such as PtMo/C, PtNi/C, and PtRu/C, can reduce the adsorption of benzene and thereby improve HOR activity. In particular, the HOR voltammogram of PtRu/C in 0.1 M benzyl ammonium showed minimal benzene adsorption. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the adsorption of benzyl ammonium on the bimetallic PtRu is endergonic for all four possible orientations of the cation, which explains the significantly better HOR activity observed for the bimetallic catalysts. The new HOR inhibition mechanism described here provides insights for the design of future polymer electrolytes and electrocatalysts for better-performing polymer membrane-based fuel cells.
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