In the article by Samuel St. John et al. the authors examined the effects of pH and carbonate on the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with Ru-Pt alloy catalysts and compared this against Pt monometallic catalyst. Ru-Pt alloys are of interest because they are the best performing HOR catalysts for alkaline …
One of the critical challenges facing fuel cells is degradation of the catalyst/support structure. A major mechanism of degradation is air/air (cathode/anode) startup/shutdown (SU/SD) degradation. Over time it can lead to significant corrosion of the carbon support structure, which in turn can lead to a loss of porosity of the catalyst layer, as well as …
In the operation of a hydrogen fuel cell, one of the two principle reactions that takes place is the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). It is the reaction by which oxygen gains electrons. It is a more complex reaction than the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR), with slower kinetics, making it the bottleneck in the overall redox …
An electrochemical cell converts chemical energy into electrical energy (or vice versa). In the case where electrical energy is generated (Galvanic cell), it is driven by a pair of spontaneous reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions. These reactions take place at the two electrodes, which are in contact with an electrolyte, forming two half-cells. An electrolyte is essentially …
