Journal
JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES
Volume 348, Issue -, Pages 30-39Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.02.067
Keywords
Fuel cell; PGM-Free; XPS; TEM EDS; Structure to property
Funding
- Center for Micro-Engineered Materials
- NSF GRFP [1418062]
- Division Of Graduate Education
- Direct For Education and Human Resources [1418062] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Development of platinum group metal free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) requires understanding of the interactions between surface chemistry and performance, both of which are strongly dependent on synthesis conditions. To elucidate these complex relationships, a set of Fe-N-C catalysts derived from the same set of precursor materials is fabricated by varying several key synthetic parameters under controlled conditions. The results of physicochemical characterization are presented and compared with the results of rotating disk electrode (RDE) analysis and fuel cell testing. We find that electrochemical performance is strongly correlated with three key properties related to catalyst composition: concentrations of 1) atomically dispersed Fe species, 2) species in which N is bound to Fe, and 3) surface oxides. Not only are these factors related to performance, these types of chemical species are shown to correlate with each other. This study provides evidence supporting the role of iron coordinated with nitrogen as an active species for the ORR, and offers synthetic pathways to increase the density of atomically dispersed iron species and surface oxides for optimum performance. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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