Electrochemical Characterization of Adsorbed and Immobilized Cu Triazole Complexes: Some Mechanistic Aspects

摘要

We have synthesized and electrochemically characterized a variety of adsorbed Cu complexes of substituted triazoles for use as catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. To validate our methods versus previously reported Cu catalysts, we focused our preliminary work on the synthesis and electrochemical characterization of the ORR catalytic activity of adsorbed Cu diamino triazole (Cu-DATZ) complexes. The effects on the performance of parameters such as Cu salts, ligand to metal ratio, adsorption temperature and carbon pretreatment were studied. To develop a deeper understanding of these materials we examined ORR mechanistic aspects such as the number of electrons transferred and the reaction order with respect to oxygen.