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Updated: Jul 23, 2025

Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance
Published on: April 27, 2018
Migration and Precipitation of Platinum in Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells
Aniket Raut1, Haoyan Fang1, Yu-Chung Lin1
1Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA.
Abstract:
Despite the recent progress in increasing the power generation of Anion-exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs), their durability is still far lower than that of Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Using the complementary techniques of X-ray micro-computed tomography (CT), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, we have identified Pt ion migration as an important factor to explain the decay in performance of AEMFCs. In alkaline media Pt+2 ions are easily formed which then either undergo dissolution into the carbon support or migrate to the membrane. In contrast to PEMFCs, where hydrogen cross over reduces the ions forming a vertical "Pt line" within the membrane, the ions in the AEM are trapped by charged groups within the membrane, leading to disintegration of the membrane and failure. Diffusion of the metal components is still observed when the Pt/C of the cathode is substituted with a FeCo-N-C catalyst, but in this case the Fe and Co ions are not trapped within the membrane, but rather migrate into the anode, thereby increasing the stability of the membrane.
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