Abstract's Details

Oxygen Reduction through Reaction with Hydrogen on Pt(111)
Abstract ID	MAT-15
Presenter	Lars Naslund
Presentation Type	Poster
Full Author List	L. -A. Naslund (1), J. MacNaughton (1), T. Anniyev (1), H. Ogasawara (1), A. Nilsson (1)
Affiliations	(1) Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA
Category	Materials Science
Abstract	Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) that uses hydrogen as fuel and oxygen as oxidant appears to be a promising alternative for clean energy conversion without emission of greenhouse gases. There are, however, several technical problems that need to be solved before a commercial break though is possible; one of them is the catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the cathode side of the PEMFC. The search for the optimal catalyst material for the ORR has more or less been a time consuming trial-and-error process that started already in the end of the Fifties. As a contrasted we are now following an insight-and-theory approach, which starts with a fundamental understanding of the mechanistic pathway for the ORR on Pt(111); platinum is today the best option to catalyze the ORR, although it is very expensive. The x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) experiments, which were performed at ultra high vacuum (UHV) condition, indicate that the reaction rate of the reduction of oxygen through hydrogen on Pt(111) is not limited by energy barriers. The limited factor is the number of available sites. The study further shows that OH is an important intermediate.
Footnotes
Funding Acknowledgement