Platinum Free catalysts for Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction (HOR) in Alkaline Fuel Cells

Maria Alesker, Chemistry, Bar Ilan Institute of Technology and Advanced Materials (BINA), Ramat Gan, Israel
Miles Page, CellEra, Caesarea, Israel
Meital Shviro, Chemistry, Bar Ilan Institute of Technology and Advanced Materials (BINA), Ramat Gan, Israel
Yair Paska, CellEra, Caesarea, Israel
Dario R. Dekel, CellEra, Caesarea, Israel
Shimshon Gottesfeld, CellEra, Caesarea, Israel
David Zitoun, Chemistry, Bar Ilan Institute of Technology and Advanced Materials (BINA), Ramat Gan, Israel

Hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) catalysts for Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells (AMFCs) have not been sufficiently studied. This is due to the fact that the low HOR of Pt activity in AMFCs may impede their development.

In this work, we present a new bifunctional non-platinum Ni@Pd catalyst for Hydrogen Oxidation Reaction (HOR) in alkaline media of Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells (AMFCs). This catalyst was synthesized in aqueous medium at pH~12, T=60 ^oC without using surfactants. Resulting Ni@Pd catalysts were fully characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy/High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM/HR-TEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectrometry. The crystalline phases and crystallinity were exanimated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Electron Diffraction (ED) of HR-TEM.

Advantage of bifunctional Ni@Pd catalyst lies in the close proximity of the Ni and Pd which significantly accelerates the HOR kinetics. This fact may be explained by oxo-philic nature of the Ni surface whose OH(ad)  groups catalyzed the HOR on Pd.