Design of CO Tolerant Anode Catalysts for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell

Abstract

The electrocatalytic activity for H2 oxidation in the presence of 100 ppm CO has been investigated on 40 species of binary Pt alloy electrocatalysts with different combinations or compositions. Pt-Fe, Pt-Ni, Pt-Co and Pt-Mo alloys have been found to exhibit the excellent CO-tolerance. On such alloy electrodes, the equilibrium coverage of CO was suppressed less than ca. 0.6. The surface of the alloys was found to be composed of thin Pt layer, but its electronic structure differed from that of pure Pt.