Nanostructured Non Precious Metal Catalysts For Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFCs) have long been thought of as a promising clean alternative energy electrochemical device. They are lightweight, highly efficient, modular and scalable devices. A fuel such as H2 or methanol that can be readily produced from a variety of sources can be utilized in PEFCs to generate electricity with low or no emissions. Despite these advantages, fuel cell technologies have failed to reach mass commercialization mainly due to short operational lifetimes and the high cost of materials. In particular, the polymer membrane and the catalyst layer have been problematic in reducing the material cost. Currently, platinum is the dominant material used to catalyze fuel cell reactions. However platinum is very expensive and scarce. In order to pursue the mass commercialization of fuel cells, two methods have been proposed: 1) increasing the utilization of platinum to lower the loading required, and 2) replacing platinum completely with a non-precious material. The latter has been suggested to be the long term solution due to the increasing cost of platinum. This thesis explores the elimination of platinum through the use of nanostructured non-precious metal catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells.