1723
Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Nitrogen and Cobalt Modified Silicon Carbide Derived Carbon in Acidic Media

Sunday, 13 May 2018: 11:00
Room 611 (Washington State Convention Center)
P. Teppor, R. Jäger (Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu), E. Härk (Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin), U. Joost (Institute of Physics, University of Tartu), I. Tallo (Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu), P. Paiste, K. Kirsimäe (University of Tartu), and E. Lust (Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu)
Active research is currently being done to study and develop alternative cathode catalyst materials for the purpose of lowering the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) overpotential in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. In this regard, carbon materials modified with nitrogen and a non-platinum group metal, either iron or cobalt, have shown promising results.[1-3]

In this work, non-platinum group metal and nitrogen type ORR catalysts were successfully synthesized via a simple solution-based method using a silicon carbide derived carbon support, cobalt and different nitrogen precursors, namely 2,2’-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline.[2]

The characteristics of the resulting materials were studied using various physical and electrochemical methods. The main physical characterization was done by low-temperature nitrogen sorption analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The electrochemical characterization was done in an acidic environment using the rotating disc electrode and cyclic voltammetry methods carried out in a three-electrode electrochemical cell.

According to the electrochemical measurements, modifying the carbon support with cobalt and nitrogen increased the half-wave potential value of the ORR curves by around 460 mV. Furthermore, the achieved ORR activities of both synthesized catalyst materials were comparable to the activities of similar catalysts presented in the literature. The ORR stabilities of both materials were additionally studied and the calculated activity decrease speeds were found to be somewhat smaller than those reported for similar materials.[3]

[1] H. T. Chung, D. A. Cullen, D. Higgins, B. T. Sneed, E. F. Holby, K. L. More, P. Zelenay. Science 357 (2017) 479.

[2] F. Roncaroli, E. S. D. Molin, F. A. Viva, M. M. Bruno, E. B. Halac. Electrochimica Acta, 174 (2015) 66.

[3] S. Li, L. Zhang, H. Liu, M. Pan, L. Zan, J. Zhang. Electrochimica Acta 55 (2010) 4403.

See more of: Oxygen Reduction Reaction
See more of: I04: Materials for Low Temperature Electrochemical Systems 4
See more of: Fuel Cells, Electrolyzers, and Energy Conversion
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>