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Electrocatalysis at Metal Nanoparticles

Kumar, Sachin
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1218138524

Abstract Details

2008, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Hydrogen and methanol fuel cells are important energy devices. The need for energy has pressed a tremendous drive towards development of smaller and more efficient fuel cells. There are certain limitations in the fundamental fuel cell reactions. For example, the use of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles as fuel cell catalyst poses serious carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning problem. Slow kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at cathode of a fuel cell also limits the efficiency of fuel cells. In addition, there is little control over the size and distribution of catalyst nanoparticles. For decades, size and distribution dependent catalytic activity of nanoparticles has been the subject of active research. Though numerous studies have been conducted in past to elucidate the effect of size and distribution of nanoparticles towards its activity, the results are inconclusive. In most studies there is no control of particle size and distribution. It is therefore important to design a new system where the metal nanoparticles are fabricated on conductive solid support with uniform size and distribution, so that the role of particle size and distribution towards fundamental fuel cell reactions can be unambiguously addressed. In order to achieve these objectives, a diblock copolymer template method is employed during this dissertation work. Uniformly distributed Au and Pt nanoparticles were synthesized to study the solution CO and methanol electrooxidation as well as ORR. Synthesis of core-shell metal nanoparticles with Pt shell and Au or Cu core is also reported. Utilizing the core-shell metal nanoparticles, the activity of Pt layer may be enhanced for fuel cell reactions in addition to achieving the reduction in Pt usage. The reduction in the use of Pt as the fuel cell catalyst has an enormous impact towards economic viability of fuel cells for commercialization.
Shouzhong Zou, PhD (Advisor)
Gilbert E. Pacey, PhD (Committee Chair)
Andre J. Sommer, PhD (Committee Member)
Hong Wang, PhD (Committee Member)
Shashi B. Lalvani, PhD (Committee Member)
190 p.
Chemistry; Materials Science
Fuel cells; metal nanoparticles; CO electrooxidation; oxygen electroreduction; nanoparticle arrays; cyclic voltammetry

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kumar, S. (2008). Electrocatalysis at Metal Nanoparticles [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1218138524

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kumar, Sachin. Electrocatalysis at Metal Nanoparticles. 2008. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1218138524.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kumar, Sachin. "Electrocatalysis at Metal Nanoparticles." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1218138524

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1218138524
802
© 2008, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.