Development of New CO Tolerant Ternary Anode Catalysts for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Abstract

Four ternary catalysts, Pt-Ag-Ru, Pt-Au-Ru, Pt-Rh-Ru, and were investigated as anode electrocatalysts for oxidation of hydrogen-containing carbon monoxide. These catalysts were either alloys or intimate admixtures of the components. Membrane electrode assemblies were prepared for all the catalysts with anode Pt loading of and anode polarization was determined for oxidation of a stream containing 104 ppm CO. Potentials for CO oxidation were determined by stripping preadsorbed CO using cyclic voltammetry. The (1:1:0.4 molar ratio) oxidizes CO at a lower potential, and the polarization for oxidation of hydrogen-containing CO was lower than the widely used Pt-Ru (1:1 molar ratio) catalyst. At low polarization, the catalyst showed twice the activity of the Pt-Ru catalyst when the oxidation currents were normalized to the Pt area. © 2003 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.