Fuel cell catalysts: Gold-platinum nanoparticles

A general bottom-up pathway towards nanostructured catalyst materials from metal and alloy nanoparticles for fuel cells is explored. This pathway entails molecularly-engineered processing of gold, gold-platinum, and other nanoparticles in terms of size, shape, composition, and surface properties and molecularly-mediated assembly of the nanoparticles on various supporting materials. Recent results in the exploration of the nanostructured catalysts for fuel-cell anode and cathode reactions are presented. The bimetallic composition on carbon support was studied to modify and improve the catalytic properties for methanol oxidation reaction at the anode in methanol oxidation fuel cells and oxygen reduction reaction at the cathode. An initial comparison of the catalytic activity with commercial catalysts under several conditions revealed important insights into the activity of the catalysts and the design of highly active Au-Pt nanoparticle catalysts for fuel cell applications. The interfacial nanoparticle-nanoparticle and nanoparticle-support interactions is presented, along with assessment of the nanoparticles processing and treatment parameters. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 228th ACS National Meeting (Philadelphia, PA, 8/22-26/2004).