Toward Pt-Free Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Fe–Sn Carbon Nitride–Graphene Core–Shell Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Source abstract
Abstract
We report on the development of two new Pt-free electrocatalysts (ECs) for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process based on graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). We designed the ECs with a core–shell morphology, where a GNP core support is covered by a carbon nitride (CN) shell. The proposed ECs present ORR active sites that are not associated with nanoparticles of metal/alloy/oxide but are instead based on Fe and Sn subnanometric clusters bound in coordination nests formed by carbon and nitrogen ligands of the CN shell. The performance and reaction mechanism of the ECs in the ORR are evaluated in an alkaline medium by cyclic voltammetry with the thin-film rotating ring-disk approach and confirmed by measurements on gas-diffusion electrodes. The proposed GNP-supported ECs present an ORR overpotential of only ca. 70 mV higher with respect to a conventional Pt/C reference EC including a XC-72R carbon black support. These results make the reported ECs very promising for application in anion-exchange membrane fuel cells. Moreover, our methodology provides an example of a general synthesis protocol for the development of new Pt-free ECs for the ORR having ample room for further performance improvement beyond the state of the art.
Source: openalex_inverted_index · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion · Fuel Cells and Related Materials · Advanced battery technologies research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Section of “Chemistry for the Technology” (ChemTec), Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Padova, in the Department of Chemical Sciences, Via Marzolo 1, I-35131 Padova (PD), Italy
Centro Studi di Economia e Tecnica dell’Energia ≪Giorgio Levi Cases≫, Via Marzolo 9, 35131 Padova (PD), Italy
Consorzio Interuniversitario per la Scienza e la Tecnologia dei Materiali (INSTM)
stituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Graphene Labs, Via Morego 30, 16163 Genova (GE), Italy
Faculty of Chemistry, University of Warsaw, Pastuera 1, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland
CNR-ICMATE, Via Marzolo 1, I-35131 Padova (PD), Italy
Funding
?Budget Integrato per la Ricerca Interdipartimentale - BIRD 2016? of the University of Padova, Italy · Strategic Project of the University of Padova ?From Materials for Membrane-Electrode Assemblies to Electric Energy Conver-sion and Storage Devices ? MAESTRA? · European Commission through the Graphene Flagship ? Core 1 project · National Science Center, Poland
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