Multifunctional Non-Pt ternary anode catalyst by polyol method for reversal tolerant anode of automotive polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Abstract

During the operation of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell electric vehicle, various transient conditions may trigger hydrogen fuel starvation, which results in fatal degradation of anode caused by the reversal of the cell voltage. The reversal-tolerant anode (RTA) strategy has been introduced to mitigate the influence of hydrogen starvation. RTA employs a catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), thereby boosting the electrolysis of water and reducing the rate of carbon oxidation reaction. To enhance kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and OER and reduce precious metal usage, the addition of yttrium (Y) to the IrRu-based materials was attempted in this study. In this study, several novel IrRuMYN-based catalysts (herein, (1≤ M ≤4) and (0≤ N ≤0.5)) were synthesized by polyol method under the acidic condition for the first time. To maximize metal deposition and reduction level, pH value and heat ramping rate were mainly controlled. The electrochemical properties were evaluated using a half cell test. In common, all of the IrRuY alloy catalysts exhibited activities for both HOR and the OER. In particular, IrRu1Y0.1/C catalyst was shown the best of 23.98mA/cm2 for HOR at 0.08VRHE. This value is equal to 98% of state-of-the-art Pt/C. IrRu4Y0.3/C catalyst displayed the best activity at 1.6VRHE, which is a 24.64mA/cm2 for OER. In summary, it was demonstrated the outstanding HOR-OER activities of IrRuY-based catalysts, which are a promising alternative candidate as an RTA catalyst for automotive PEMFC.