Highly durable Pd metal catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells; coverage of Pd metal with silica.
Pd cathode catalysts for polymer electrolyte fuel cells have been covered with silica layers a few nanometres thick. The silica-coated Pd catalysts showed high activity and excellent durability for the oxygen reduction under the severe cathode conditions of PEFCs, while Pd catalysts without silica-coating were seriously deactivated under the same conditions. The coverage of Pd metal with silica prevents the diffusion of Pd species out of the silica layers.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyushu University, 744 Moto-oka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan. takenaka@chem-eng.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Sakae
S
Takenaka
Naoto
N
Susuki
Hiroaki
H
Miyamoto
Eishi
E
Tanabe
Hideki
H
Matsune
Masahiro
M
Kishida