Sb-Doped SnO₂ Aerogels Based Catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Pt Deposition Routes, Electrocatalytic Activity and Durability

Guillaume Ozouf (1) , Gwenn Cognard (2) , Frédéric Maillard (2) , Marian Chatenet (1, 2, 3) , Laure Guétaz (4, 5) , Marie Heitzmann (5) , Pierre-André Jacques (5) , Christian Beauger (1)

1 PERSEE - Centre Procédés, Énergies Renouvelables, Systèmes Énergétiques
2 LEPMI - Laboratoire d'Electrochimie et de Physico-chimie des Matériaux et des Interfaces
3 IUF - Institut universitaire de France
4 NUCLEART - ARC-Nucleart CEA Grenoble
5 LITEN - Laboratoire d'Innovation pour les Technologies des Energies Nouvelles et les nanomatériaux

Tin dioxide is a promising catalyst support to improve the stability of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) cathodes at high voltages. However, optimizing the catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of tin dioxide based electrocatalyst still remains challenging. In this study, an antimony doped tin dioxide (ATO) aerogel featuring suitable physico-chemical properties for application at a PEMFC cathode was successfully synthetized. Two platinum nanoparticles deposition methods were tested and compared. One is a chemical reduction route (using ethylene glycol, EG), the other uses ultraviolet (UV) irradiation followed by different thermal post-treatments. Electrocatalysts structure and morphology were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments. The highest ORR mass activity measured in liquid electrolyte at 25°C was obtained for Pt/ATO from EG method (32 A g_Pt⁻¹ versus 27 A g_Pt⁻¹ for a reference Pt/HSAC 40 wt%). Pt/ATO turned out to be more stable than Pt/HSAC during an accelerated stress test composed of 5,000 potential cycles between 1.0 and 1.5 V vs. RHE at 80°C.

Mots clés: Aerogel; Durability; Fuel cell; Proton exchange membrane

Domaines: Energie électrique; Catalyse; Matériaux

Guillaume Ozouf, Gwenn Cognard, Frédéric Maillard, Marian Chatenet, Laure Guétaz, et al.. Sb-Doped SnO₂ Aerogels Based Catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: Pt Deposition Routes, Electrocatalytic Activity and Durability. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 2018, 165, pp.3036 - 3044. ⟨10.1149/2.0041806jes⟩. ⟨hal-01719279⟩