Doped metal oxide electrocatalyst supports with enhanced conductivity

具有增强电导率的掺杂金属氧化物电催化剂载体

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-05152
• 负责人: Easton, EBradley
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Ontario Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=765027
• 关键词: Doped; metal; oxide; electrocatalyst; supports

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are clean, portable power sources powered by hydrogen from secure and renewable sources that produce water and electricity. Current PEMFC technology relies heavily on platinum (Pt) electrocatalysts to drive the anodic and cathodic reactions. Normally, Pt nanoparticles are dispersed onto a high surface carbon support (Pt/C) to maximize the surface area of the catalyst and increase cell performance. While carbon black has been the de facto catalyst support in fuel cell over the last 30 years, it is a liability when it comes to durability since it is prone to corrosion under the highly acidic and oxidative operating conditions of a PEM fuel cell. This is detrimental to the long-term performance of a fuel cell and hinders the longevity of fuel cell devices. Thus, new materials are needed to address these fundamental issues. My lab recently discovered an exciting and entirely new fuel cell catalyst support material. Specifically, his group has invented a conductive metal oxide catalyst support that has the potential to replace the carbon support commonly used in current fuel cell electrodes. This proposal is focused on the study and enhancement of a new reaction whereby we dope low cost metal oxides like titanium dioxide with various metals and semi-metals (e.g. Mo, Si). My lab was the first to discover that doping with silicon (Si) could greatly enhance the conductivity of these metal oxide support materials. These new support materials have extremely high stability to corrosion and remarkable high electronic conductivity, considerably larger than any other metal oxide-based support developed to date. These properties make these supports highly attractive for deployment in fuel cell systems for automotive and stationary power applications. A more stable support that also enhances the performance/stability of the expensive Pt catalyst would revolutionize fuel cells, improving performance and operational lifetimes, thereby enabling greater uptake of fuel cell technology to replace less eco-friendly power sources used in automotive and stationary power applications. Our long-term objectives seek to understand how the presence of the doping elements (e.g Si, Mo) influences the physical properties of the resultant oxide material. Furthermore, I seek to understand how doping influences the electrochemical properties of the support and nanoparticle catalyst particles that are dispersed onto it. To address these questions, my group will create novel metal oxide support materials with different compositions and perform detailed electrochemical studies of these supports and catalysts. Furthermore, the durability of these catalysts will be examined in order to understand how chemical composition and operating conditions influence the stability of these electrode materials so that they can be better used in reliable clean energy technology.

聚合物电解质膜燃料电池 (PEMFC) 是一种清洁的便携式电源，由来自安全且可再生来源的氢气提供动力，可产生水和电力。目前的 PEMFC 技术严重依赖铂 (Pt) 电催化剂来驱动阳极和阴极反应。通常，Pt 纳米颗粒分散在高表面积碳载体 (Pt/C) 上，以最大化催化剂的表面积并提高电池性能。虽然过去 30 年来炭黑一直是燃料电池中事实上的催化剂载体，但它在耐用性方面却是一个缺点，因为它在 PEM 燃料电池的高酸性和氧化操作条件下容易腐蚀。这不利于燃料电池的长期性能并阻碍燃料电池装置的寿命。因此，需要新材料来解决这些基本问题。我的实验室最近发现了一种令人兴奋的全新燃料电池催化剂支撑材料。具体来说，他的团队发明了一种导电金属氧化物催化剂载体，有可能取代当前燃料电池电极中常用的碳载体。该提案的重点是研究和增强一种新反应，即我们将低成本金属氧化物（例如二氧化钛）与各种金属和半金属（例如钼、硅）掺杂。我的实验室是第一个发现硅 (Si) 掺杂可以大大提高这些金属氧化物支撑材料的电导率的实验室。这些新型支撑材料具有极高的耐腐蚀稳定性和显着的高电子电导率，比迄今为止开发的任何其他金属氧化物基支撑材料都要大得多。这些特性使得这些支架对于在汽车和固定电源应用的燃料电池系统中的部署极具吸引力。更稳定的支撑也可以提高昂贵的铂催化剂的性能/稳定性，这将彻底改变燃料电池，提高性能和使用寿命，从而使燃料电池技术得到更多采用，以取代汽车和固定电源应用中使用的不太环保的电源。我们的长期目标是了解掺杂元素（例如 Si、Mo）的存在如何影响所得氧化物材料的物理性能。此外，我试图了解掺杂如何影响载体和分散在其上的纳米颗粒催化剂颗粒的电化学性质。为了解决这些问题，我的小组将创建具有不同成分的新型金属氧化物载体材料，并对这些载体和催化剂进行详细的电化学研究。此外，还将检查这些催化剂的耐久性，以了解化学成分和操作条件如何影响这些电极材料的稳定性，以便它们可以更好地用于可靠的清洁能源技术。