Monday, 30 May 2022
West Ballroom B/C/D (Vancouver Convention Center)
Incorporating non-noble transition metals to well established Pt based catalysts has been proven to increase catalytic activity, improve stability via better catalyst-support interactions and lower the overall production cost of fuel cells. Most reported fabrication methods involve multiple time-consuming steps that lack efficient usage of Pt metal and are impractical for industrial scaling. In order to identify and characterize well dispersed bimetallic nanoparticle (BNP) catalyst layers, Pt/Co or Pt/Ni metals were deposited simultaneously onto a fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) surface via Pulsed Potential Deposition (PPD). Both deposition time and deposition potential were varied to optimize catalyst nanoparticles for both hydrogen oxidation (anode electrodes) as well as tackle the slow kinetics of oxygen reduction (cathode electrode). Catalytic activity of the BNP catalyst layers was investigated and compared to commercially available Pt electrodes via cyclic voltammetry. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images coupled with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX) was used to investigate the effect of our PPD parameters on the surface morphology and crystallinity of our BNP and confirm alloy formation. Quantitative analysis was conducted via cyclic voltammetry (CV) using a 1M H2SO4 solution saturated in industrial grade oxygen gas for 5 min to calculate electrochemical surface area and compare catalytic activity.