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Non-platinum Carbon-Supported Oxygen Reduction Catalyst Ink Evaluation Based on Poly(sulfone) and Poly(phenylene)-Derived Ionomers in Alkaline Media

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Abstract

Described in this work is an electrochemical evaluation of novel alkaline ionomers employed as catalyst binder for non-platinum group metal electrocatalysts based on cyanamide precursor. Electrochemical evaluation of the non-platinum group metal (non-PGM) catalyst bound with the featured alkaline ionomer classes over a range of conditions gives insight into how they behave, as well as provide information on how the varying functionalities enhance or inhibit the rate of oxygen reduction. We are showing that the polymer backbone structure has a larger influence on facilitating favorable reaction kinetics than ionomer to catalysts ratio. The poly(sulfone)-derived ionomers result in a worse activity than electrocatalysts with Nafion® and poly(phenylene)-derived ionomers. They also exhibited more peroxide desorption and greater limitation in the mass transport regime. The poly(phenylene)-derived polymers performed in line with the benchmark ionomer, Nafion®. The poly(phenylene)-derived ionomers show promise as fruitful line of research in establishing an anion-conducting ionomer for alkaline electrolyte fuel cells.

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Acknowledgments

Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131-0001, USA

    Michael H. Robson, Kateryna Artyushkova, Wendy Patterson & Plamen Atanassov

  2. Sandia National Laboratories, P.O. Box 5800, Mailstop 0888, Albuquerque, NM, 87185, USA

    Michael R. Hibbs

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  1. Michael H. Robson
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  2. Kateryna Artyushkova
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  3. Wendy Patterson
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Correspondence to Kateryna Artyushkova.

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Robson, M.H., Artyushkova, K., Patterson, W. et al. Non-platinum Carbon-Supported Oxygen Reduction Catalyst Ink Evaluation Based on Poly(sulfone) and Poly(phenylene)-Derived Ionomers in Alkaline Media. Electrocatalysis 5, 148–158 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12678-013-0179-5

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