NANOCATALYSTS IN CATHODE REACTIONS OF FUEL CELLS AND RECHARGEABLE METAL–AIR BATTERIES

摘要

Electrochemical energy devices such as fuel cells and rechargeable metal-air batteries represent a clean energy vector to address some of the energy and environmental problems. A challenging area to fundamental understanding of the electron transfer processes in the cathode reactions in these electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices involves the correlation between the adsorption of molecular oxygen or oxygenated species and the surface binding sites on catalyst surfaces. This report will describe recent results of our investigations of nanoalloy catalysts in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and reactivities related to these two reactions. Examples of the nanoalloys will be given for platinum-alloyed binary and ternary systems, focusing on establishing a better design of active and stable catalysts for fuel cells and rechargeable lithium-air batteries.