(130d) Non-precious Metal Nanoparticle Catalyst for Fuel Oxidation

Electrochemical oxidation of small molecule fuels holds tremendous promise as the development of polymer electrolyte fuel cells continues.  The advancement of catalyst design to include nanoparticle morphology and core-shell multi-metal structure has allowed the tuning of catalyst performance.  The explosion of research on nanoparticle-based catalysis has demonstrated new synthesis strategies and has allowed the field to gain a better understanding of the connection between nanoparticle design and catalyst performance. However, key challenges remain, including nanoparticle durability and the reduction and elimination of precious metals.  Our current work focuses on these challenges with the development of a completely non-precious metal nanoparticle catalyst that is able to successfully catalyze the electrooxidation of small molecule fuels, such as methanol and ethanol, in alkaline solution.  This presentation will discuss our initial results on nanoparticle characterization and performance.