Development of metal oxide supported catalyst for PEM fuel cells

Fuel cells are the electrochemical tools that are converting chemical energy directly into electrical energy. Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells, attract intensive attention in the recent years as an alternative for fulfilling the rising need of energy. There are some important points which are preventing PEM fuel cells from being commercialized. These are failure of water management, insufficient cell performance, the carbon corrosion in carbon-reinforced catalysts, and high prices of commercialization. In this work, in addition to the commonly used carbon support material, TiO2 and Al2O3 support materials which are chemically stable, and have different surface areas that are resistant to oxidation of cells and degeneration of the catalysts used, are prepared in order to reduce the carbon corrosion happening in carbon-reinforced catalysts. Afterwards, the catalysts with 20 percentage by mass Platinum (Pt) synthesized by microwave method are used in the cathode part of fuel cells and the cell performance is observed. The synthesized catalysts were characterizated by means of XRD, TEM, SEM-EDS, and BET analysis. Although the fuel cells supported with Al2O3 (2) has a lower surface area than the fuel cell supported with than Al2O3 (1), it shows better performance. Additionally, when the fuel cells supported with TiO2 compared with the fuel cells supported with Al2O3, it shows better fuel cell performace under the different work conditions. Importance of the amount of materials that provide electrical conductivity in hybrid support materials has been observed and the important effect of the materials on the performance of fuel cells has been investigated.