High-performance AEM unitized regenerative fuel cell using Pt-pyrochlore as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst

  • Pralay Gayen
  • , Sulay Saha
  • , Xinquan Liu
  • , Kritika Sharma
  • , Vijay K. Ramani

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Scopus citations

Abstract

The performance of fixed-gas unitized regenerative fuel cells (FG-URFCs) are limited by the bifunctional activity of the oxygen electrocatalyst. It is essential to have a good bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst which can exhibit high activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). In this regard, Pt-Pb2Ru2O7-x is synthesized by depositing Pt on Pb2Ru2O7-x wherein Pt individually exhibits high ORR while Pb2Ru2O7-x shows high OER and moderate ORR activity. Pt-Pb2Ru2O7-x exhibits higher OER (η@10mAcm-2 = 0.25 ± 0.01 V) and ORR (η@-3mAcm-2 = -0.31 ± 0.02 V) activity in comparison to benchmark OER (IrO2, η@10mAcm-2 = 0.35 ± 0.02 V) and ORR (Pt/C, η@-3mAcm-2 = -0.33 ± 0.02 V) electrocatalysts, respectively. Pt-Pb2Ru2O7-x shows a lower bifunctionality index (η@10mAcm-2, OER η@-3mAcm-2, ORR) of 0.56 V with more symmetric OER–ORR activity profile than both Pt (>1.0 V) and Pb2Ru2O7-x (0.69 V) making it more useful for the AEM (anion exchange membrane) URFC or metal-air battery applications. FG-URFC tested with Pt-Pb2Ru2O7-x and Pt/C as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst and bifunctional hydrogen electrocatalyst, respectively, yields a mass-specific current density of 715 ± 11 A/gcat-1 at 1.8 V and 56 ± 2 A/gcat-1 at 0.9 V under electrolyzer mode and fuel-cell mode, respectively. The FG-URFC shows a round-trip efficiency of 75% at 0.1 A/cm−2, underlying improvement in AEM FG-URFC electrocatalyst design.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2107205118
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume118
Issue number40
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 5 2021

Keywords

  • Bifunctionality index
  • Oxygen evolution reaction (OER)
  • Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR)
  • Pyrochlore
  • Unitized regenerative fuel cells

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