Logo image
Ionic Liquid Additives for the Mitigation of Nafion Specific Adsorption on Platinum
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Ionic Liquid Additives for the Mitigation of Nafion Specific Adsorption on Platinum

Yawei Li, Saad Intikhab, Arnav Malkani, Bingjun Xu, Joshua Snyder and General Motors LLC, Detroit, MI (United States)
ACS catalysis, v 10(14), pp 7691-7698
17 Jul 2020

Abstract

Chemistry Chemistry, Physical Physical Sciences Science & Technology
Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA)-based ionomers, most notably Nafion, provide the ionic connection between catalyst particles and solid polymer ion conducting membrane separators in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). While necessary, their presence adversely impacts the performance of the catalyst. PEMFC catalyst performance losses associated with Nafion ionomers are due to physical barriers to reactant gas transport and loss of active sites through specific adsorption of polymer-bound sulfonate groups on the catalyst surface. These impacts are particularly damaging for PEMFC high current density (HCD) performance. Here, we show that ionic liquids (IL) present at the catalyst interface can act to prevent the specific adsorption of sulfonate groups of Nafion on Pt surfaces, negating the detrimental impact of the ionomer on reaction rates, specifically for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This result holds promise for further Pt loading reductions in PEMFCs.

Metrics

11 Record Views
74 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#7 Affordable and Clean Energy

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Web of Science research areas
Chemistry, Physical
Logo image