Non-noble metal-based nano wire networks as novel support-less catalyst structures in alkaline fuel cells

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Ensinger; Professorin Dr.-Ing. Christina Roth
• Subject Area: Physical Chemistry of Solids and Surfaces, Material Characterisation
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 342145578

The development of stable anion exchange membranes made alkaline fuel cells increasingly attractive in recent years. Due to decreased corrosivity, alkaline systems enable the use of less expensive non-noble catalysts. Using cost-efficient metals, such as nickel, it is even possible to apply bulk structures, which are not supported on a high-surface area material. The focus of this project is on the synthesis of support-less, three-dimensional, non-noble metal based structures using ion-track etched polycarbonate foils as hard templates, and their application in alkaline fuel cells. Ni and Ni-Pd nanowire networks serve as model systems, which can be systematically varied and implemented as a model electrode into a fuel cell with anion-exchange membrane. In contrast to the commercially-applied catalysts, the thus prepared 3D structures are well-defined, can be tailor-made over a wide range of parameters and therefore also used for very fundamental investigations. Applying only cheap non-noble metals in the future enables the use of bulk unsupported electrocatalysts, thus making them a viable alternative also for commercial application. Therefore, not only systematic structure-activity correlations will be investigated, but also experiments with respect to long-term stability in low-temperature fuel cells with alkaline membrane will be performed in order to demonstrate the applicability of these novel structures.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Falk Münch