Identical-location TEM investigations of Pt/C electrocatalyst degradation at elevated temperatures

Katrin Gabriele Schloegl; Karl J.J.  Mayrhofer; Marianne Hanzlik; Matthias Arenz

Identical-location TEM investigations of Pt/C electrocatalyst degradation at elevated temperatures

Katrin Gabriele Schloegl, Karl J.J. Mayrhofer, Marianne Hanzlik, Matthias Arenz

Department of Chemistry

60 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In the present work we extend the application of identical location - transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) to elevated electrolyte temperatures (333 K and 348 K), close to actual operating conditions of proton conducting electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The feasibility of IL-TEM is demonstrated by applying a potentiostatic degradation protocol to a high surface area carbon supported Pt catalyst. The results show that under the applied conditions carbon support corrosion is dominating the degradation of the catalyst; a process that is considered to be responsible for the reported collapse of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) tests. The finding is in contrast to degradation studies performed at room temperature where upon potential cycling mainly particle coalescence was observed without visible changes in the support of the catalyst.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry
Volume	662
Pages (from-to)	355-360
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1572-6657
Publication status	Published - 15 Nov 2011

Cite this

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title = "Identical-location TEM investigations of Pt/C electrocatalyst degradation at elevated temperatures",

abstract = "In the present work we extend the application of identical location - transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) to elevated electrolyte temperatures (333 K and 348 K), close to actual operating conditions of proton conducting electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The feasibility of IL-TEM is demonstrated by applying a potentiostatic degradation protocol to a high surface area carbon supported Pt catalyst. The results show that under the applied conditions carbon support corrosion is dominating the degradation of the catalyst; a process that is considered to be responsible for the reported collapse of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) tests. The finding is in contrast to degradation studies performed at room temperature where upon potential cycling mainly particle coalescence was observed without visible changes in the support of the catalyst.",

author = "Schloegl, {Katrin Gabriele} and Mayrhofer, {Karl J.J.} and Marianne Hanzlik and Matthias Arenz",

year = "2011",

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volume = "662",

pages = "355--360",

journal = "Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Identical-location TEM investigations of Pt/C electrocatalyst degradation at elevated temperatures

AU - Schloegl, Katrin Gabriele

AU - Mayrhofer, Karl J.J.

AU - Hanzlik, Marianne

AU - Arenz, Matthias

PY - 2011/11/15

Y1 - 2011/11/15

N2 - In the present work we extend the application of identical location - transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) to elevated electrolyte temperatures (333 K and 348 K), close to actual operating conditions of proton conducting electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The feasibility of IL-TEM is demonstrated by applying a potentiostatic degradation protocol to a high surface area carbon supported Pt catalyst. The results show that under the applied conditions carbon support corrosion is dominating the degradation of the catalyst; a process that is considered to be responsible for the reported collapse of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) tests. The finding is in contrast to degradation studies performed at room temperature where upon potential cycling mainly particle coalescence was observed without visible changes in the support of the catalyst.

AB - In the present work we extend the application of identical location - transmission electron microscopy (IL-TEM) to elevated electrolyte temperatures (333 K and 348 K), close to actual operating conditions of proton conducting electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The feasibility of IL-TEM is demonstrated by applying a potentiostatic degradation protocol to a high surface area carbon supported Pt catalyst. The results show that under the applied conditions carbon support corrosion is dominating the degradation of the catalyst; a process that is considered to be responsible for the reported collapse of the catalyst layer in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) tests. The finding is in contrast to degradation studies performed at room temperature where upon potential cycling mainly particle coalescence was observed without visible changes in the support of the catalyst.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1572-6657

VL - 662

SP - 355

EP - 360

JO - Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry

JF - Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry

ER -

Identical-location TEM investigations of Pt/C electrocatalyst degradation at elevated temperatures

Abstract

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