A US research team has developed a new electrocatalyst, containing nanoparticles with a platinum-rich shell and core, which it claims could significantly improve the capacity and viability of fuel cells.

In place of pure platinum, the device uses an alloy of platinum, copper and cobalt which is deposited onto the carbon supports in the form of nanoparticles.

The employment of the alloy, the researchers from the University of Houston claim, means that when the active catalytic phase occurs and a cyclic alternating current is applied to the electrode, less precious metal separates from the alloy.

This process results in nanoparticles being formed with a core made of the original copper-rich alloy and a shell containing almost exclusively platinum, and an electrocatalyst which the team claims shows the highest activity yet recorded for reducing oxygen.

Peter Strasser, who led the research, told Science Daily: "The oxygen-reducing activity of our new electrocatalytic material is unsurpassed - it is four to five times higher than that of pure platinum.

"In addition, we have demonstrated how to incorporate and activate this material in situ in a fuel cell."

Dr Strasser perceives that the electrocatalyst's effectiveness is due both to the larger surface area of the nanoparticles, as well as the special altered structural properties of the surface.

Source:

New Class Of Catalyst For Fuel Cells Beats Pure Platinum By A Mile
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071023164031.htm

Efficient Oxygen Reduction Fuel Cell Electrocatalysis on Voltammetrically Dealloyed
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/116322897/ABSTRACT

http://www.chee.uh.edu/faculty/strasser/

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