Nanocatalysts for Fuel Cells

Introduction
As a result of the different environmental consequences caused by carbon dioxide emissions
from crude oil and combustion engines, global research towards sustainable and ecologically
energy generation methods were initiated (Jamil & al., 2021).
The growing number of vehicles that run on the traditional internal combustion engine in recent
decades only highlight the need for solutions to the environmental problems linked to the
automotive sector as a whole (Pacheco, et al., 2022), which are primarily emissions from the
combustion of fuel sources for the generation of energy.
A solution to this problem in the automotive industry comes in the form of fuel cells. Fuel cells
became an area of interest for its potential to fully replace the internal combustion engine due to
its ability to decrease the environmental effects of using fossil fuels (Zaidi & Matsuura, 2008).

Fuel Cells and How They Work

Fuel cells are basically open thermodynamic systems that operate on electrochemical reactions
and consume a reactant from an external source (Cook, 2001). The use of fuel cells is not
entirely new as they have already been utilized in different applications such as combined heat
and power systems, portable computers, and military communications equipment.

Send electric current through water–H2O, in chemical shorthand–and each

water molecule splits into its components: two parts hydrogen and one part
oxygen. That process is called electrolysis.
The working principle of a fuel cell is primarily a reversed electrolysis reaction (Mekhilef,
Saidur, & Safari, 2011). The end result/product of this electrochemical reaction is electricity and
heat. To visualize, the following chemical equation summarizes the electrochemical reaction that
occurs inside a fuel cell.

A fuel cell can be designed differently from one another but its operation follows similar basic
principles. The four main components in a fuel cell are the anode, cathode, electrolyte and the
external circuit. Hydrogen is oxidized into protons and electrons at the anode while oxygen at the
cathode is reduced to oxide species to react to form water (Mekhilef, Saidur, & Safari, 2011).

Sandwiched between the anode and cathode is a thin electrolyte membrane that
looks like kitchen plastic wrap. It permits the positively charged protons to pass
through to the cathode but blocks the negatively charged electrons–which are
forced to flow through an external circuit to form an electric current. At the
cathode, the electrons and hydrogen protons combine with oxygen to form
water.
For automotive applications of a fuel cell, Proton Exchange Membrane is the commonly used
type.

A single fuel cell produces only a small amount of electricity. To run something
as big as a car, engineers stack hundreds of fuel cells together in a series.
https://media.tenor.com/XVPKOP8kQkoAAAAC/hydrogen-fuel.gif

Nanocatalysts and their Importance to Fuel Cell Technology

In fuel cells, nanocatalysts are introduced in both electrodes of the fuel cell setup to enhance the
rate of oxygen reduction and hydrogen oxidation reactions.
From its name itself, nanocatalysts are simply catalysts but at the nanometric scale. They share a
similarity with catalysts where they are not altered or changed during the course of a reaction
that they accelerate (Heney, 2022).
Platinum-based catalysts are considered the most effective type but not without its
disadvantages. Platinum often has higher affinities to impurity than hydrogen which could
severely poison the catalyst and impair the efficiency of the cell performance. Platinum is also
regarded as one of the most expensive noble metals which contributes greatly to the
manufacturing cost of the catalyst and to an extent, the fuel cell (Corti, Holliday, & Thompson,
2002).
The advancement of fuel cell technology has been substantial in recent years but its progress is
hindered by catalysts. This is also a result of the direct dependency of electricity production to
the turnover frequency (number of catalytic reactions that occurs in a site per unit time) of the
catalyst. As such, improving the efficiency of the catalyst would directly improve the overall
efficiency of the fuel cell system (Xu, Pierce, Li, & Zhao, 2008).
Nanotechnology confers advantages to nanocatalysts over normal and micro-sized catalysts, such
as increasing the site of catalytic activity to volume ratio and reduction in the amount of platinum
to be used in manufacturing the catalyst (Xu, Pierce, Li, & Zhao, 2008). As such, research and
development focused on the development of new and viable nanocatalysts play a key role in the
advancement of fuel cell technology.

Current Technology and Future Prospects

As of 2022, two hydrogen fuel cars that are publicly available are the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai
Nexo (Williams, 2022).
Of the two publicly available hydrogen fuel cell cars, the Toyota Mirai is reportedly known to
have made use of nanocatalysts in their fuel cell technology. The catalysts that the Toyota Mirai
uses are Pt-based, which are known for their improvement of oxygen reduction reaction in the
fuel cells. Specifically, these fuel cells operate with a Pt-Co catalysts. Pt-Co catalysts have the
ability to deliver high-performance whilst sustaining longevity in fuel cell applications. This is
primarily due to the fact that the membrane electrode assembly of the fuel cell was able to
generate 1 kW of energy at only 0.16g of platinum (Pt) loading (Wang & Spendelow, 2021).
However, despite its promising capabilities and its reputation as the leading cathode material for
PEMFC systems, further development and research on Pt-Co catalysts are still needed to
improve its durability and performance further to meet widespread market application. Several
efforts were made for this endeavor such as customization of the Pt shell to Pt-Co ratio, tailoring
of crystal structure and improving carbon support mechanisms which all has been found to result
in an enhancement of mass activity, power density, and durability of the membrane electrode
assembly (Wang & Spendelow, 2021).

References
Cook, B. (2001). An introduction to fuel cells and hydrogen technology. Vancouver: Heliocentris.

Corti, C., Holliday, R., & Thompson, D. (2002). Developing New Industrial Applications for Gold: Gold
Nanotechnology. Gold Bull, 111-117.

Heney, P. (2022, August 5). What are Nanocatalysts? Retrieved from R&D World:
https://www.rdworldonline.com/what-are-nanocatalysts/

Jamil, A., & al., e. (2021). Development of an extended model for the permeation of environmentally
hazardous CO2 gas across asymmetric hollow fiber composite membranes. Journal of Hazardous
Materials.

Mekhilef, S., Saidur, R., & Safari, A. (2011). Comparative study of different fuel cell technologies.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 981-989.

Pacheco, E., Fragal, V., Silva, R., Pinto, A., Sequinel, T., Ferrer, M., & Lucio, M. (2022). Nanocatalysts for
fuel cells. In Nanotechnology in the Automotive Industry (pp. 579-605).

Wang, C., & Spendelow, J. S. (2021). Recent developments in Pt–Co catalysts for proton-exchange
membrane fuel cells. Electrochemistry.

Williams, B. (2022, September 18). What hydrogen fuel cars are already available? Retrieved from
Hydrogen Fuel News: https://www.hydrogenfuelnews.com/what-hydrogen-fuel-cars-available/
8553891/
Xu, K., Pierce, D. T., Li, A., & Zhao, J. X. (2008). Nanocatalysts in Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Applications.
Synthesis and Reactivity in Inorganic, Metal-Organic, and Nano-Metal Chemistry, 394-399.

Zaidi, J., & Matsuura, T. (2008). Polymer Membranes for Fuel Cells. Springer.