CO tolerance of Pd-rich platinum palladium carbon-supported electrocatalysts - Proton exchange membrane fuel cell applications

The potential use of carbon-supported PtPdy, where y = 1-6, electrocatalysts as CO-tolerant anodes for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) applications has been investigated. Cyclic voltammetry experiments at 80degreesC, the operating temperature of the PEMFC, reveal that upon CO saturation, a lower fraction of surface sites is poisoned in the case of PtPdy compared to Pt, resulting in higher amounts of adsorbed hydrogen. Fuel cell tests demonstrated that the need for reasonable hydrogen oxidation currents, with and without CO necessitates the presence of Pt in the catalyst. As a CO-tolerant PEMFC anode catalyst, PtPdy attains improved performance compared to both Pt and PtRu. (C) 2002 The Electrochemical Society.