Sunday, 30 September 2018: 15:20
Star 4/5 (Sunrise Center)
Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) remains as the limiting reaction in fuel cells for its successful used as energy source due to its slow kinetic and, noble metals such as Pt and Pd are still some of the most active materials. This is the reason why attention has focused on finding another kind of catalyst that allows decreasing the usage of noble metals, either through using non-metallic materials or using less noble metals with specific morphologies such as core-shell structures. In addition, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is a key reaction for electrochemical hydrogen compression. The kinetic limiting steps for ORR and HER can be decreased using mixtures of metal transition oxides (MMTOs) as alternative electrocatalysts; several MMTOs have been reported in literature presenting good catalytic activity and great stability, these qualities make them a sustainable solution to traditional ORR catalysts. In this work we describe the use of Mo, Co and Ni oxides as electrocatalysts for ORR. The research was carried out using three different combinations MoNi, MoCo-W (W as particle stabilizer) and NiCo. The electrocatalytic activity was studied by rotating disc electrode (RDE), the kinetic parameters were obtained from the Koutecky-Levich and Tafel plots. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated that the MoCo-W and MoNi materials have an amorphous structure, while NiCo presented the diffraction peaks corresponding to Co3O4 and Ni. The particle size and morphology were studied by Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), where all materials presented sizes below 20 nm. These materials showed overpotentials lower than 170 mV for both, ORR and HER compared with commercial Pt/C (30 wt.%). Finally, a tolerance study was performed where, MoCoW and NiCo exhibited excellent tolerance to several alcohols (methanol, ethanol, glycerol, ethylene glycol).