MateriAlZ Seminar: "Development of FeNC Catalysts for Energy Applications”

Abstract: For automotive propulsion, fuel cells play an important role in lowering the CO2 emissions in the transportation sector. However, the expensive platinum-based catalysts that are currently used hinder widespread commercialization. FeNC catalysts are the most promising platinum substitute for the oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange fuel cells. While their activity would already be suitable for real device integration, their stability needs to be further improved. In the first part of this talk, the focus is related to the optimization of materials, in order to get close to the target values as defined e.g., from the US DOE for the integration of non-precious metal catalysts in PEFCs. Structural characterization as performed by 57Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy can help for a rational understanding of the observed performance trends. In the second part, | will present our recent results obtained by in situ Méssbauer spectroelectrochemistry. This challenging approach enables us to gain further insights into the reaction mechanism. Overall, it will be shown that by the implementation of FeNC catalyst one could enable the lowering of today’s required platinum amount in PEFCs by > 80 %.

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