Today, platinum-based catalysts are the only viable catalysts for catalyzing the oxygen reduction to water in the cathode of Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC). However, Non-Precious Metal Catalysts (NPMC) have seen their activity be greatly improved in recent years. These NPMCs are obtained by performing controlled heat-treatment(s) of optimized mixtures of precursors of a metal (Fe, Co), nitrogen, and carbon. In 2009, we reported on a novel synthesis for NPMC involving ball milling and that resulted in a breakthrough of their activity (in a kinetically-controlled regime) at the cathode of a PEMFC. While their activity in PEMFC has been reported to be very high, our initial activity measurements with the rotating disk electrode (RDE) in liquid electrolyte of pH 1 at room temperature showed an activity being two decades lower than the one measured in PEMFC at 80�C. The present work will explain this enormous difference.

Non-precious metal catalysts for fuel cells: Oxygen reduction activity compared in liquid- and solid-acid electrolytes

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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