Thin film Pt/TiO2 catalysts for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell
Journal article, 2007
Thin film Pt/TiO 2 catalysts are evaluated in a polymer electrolyte electrochemical cell. Individual thin films of Pt and TiO 2 , and bilayers of them, were deposited directly on Nafion membranes by thermal evaporation with varying deposition order and thickness (Pt loadings of 3-6 μg cm -2 ). Structural and chemical characterization was performed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) polarization plots show that the presence of a thin TiO 2 layer between the platinum and the Nafion increases the performance compared to a Pt film deposited directly on Nafion. Based on the TEM analysis, we attribute this improvement to a better dispersion of Pt on TiO 2 compared to on Nafion and in addition, substantial proton conduction through the thin TiO 2 layer. It is also shown that deposition order and the film thickness affects the performance. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Author
Marie Gustavsson
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Chemical Physics
Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)
Henrik Ekström
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Per Hanarp
Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Chemical Physics
Lisa Eurenius
Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Microscopy and Microanalysis
Göran Lindbergh
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Eva Olsson
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Microscopy and Microanalysis
Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)
Bengt Herbert Kasemo
Competence Centre for Catalysis (KCK)
Chalmers, Applied Physics, Chemical Physics
Journal of Power Sources
0378-7753 (ISSN)
Vol. 163 2 671-678Subject Categories
Condensed Matter Physics
DOI
10.1016/j.jpowsour.2006.10.005