Fuel cell catalyst degradation on the nanoscale

A newly developed methodol. for examg. fuel cell catalyst degrdn. is introduced. In contrast to the conventional, destructive TEM investigation procedure, this methodol. enables the observation of corrosion processes of the same catalyst region repeatedly. In particular we demonstrate the impact of a potential cycling treatment on a carbon-supported platinum catalyst, and propose a new corrosion mechanism for fuel cell catalyst degrdn. Under the applied harsh conditions, whole Pt particles detach from the support and dissolve into the electrolyte without re-deposition. [on SciFinder(R)]     «

A newly developed methodol. for examg. fuel cell catalyst degrdn. is introduced. In contrast to the conventional, destructive TEM investigation procedure, this methodol. enables the observation of corrosion processes of the same catalyst region repeatedly. In particular we demonstrate the impact of a potential cycling treatment on a carbon-supported platinum catalyst, and propose a new corrosion mechanism for fuel cell catalyst degrdn. Under the applied harsh conditions, whole Pt particles detac...     »