Research report 2013 - Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH

A new class of active and highly stable fuel cell catalysts

Authors
Meier, Josef C.; Galeano, Carolina; Mezzavilla, Stefano; Baldizzone, Claudio; Schüth, Ferdi; Mayrhofer, Karl J. J.
Departments
Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Heterogene Katalyse (Ferdi Schüth) / Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH, Arbeitsgruppe Elektrokatalyse (Karl J. J. Mayrhofer), Grenzflächenchemie und Oberflächentechnik (Martin Stratmann)
Summary
Why are our cars nowadays still not powered by fuel cells? – One of the main reasons is the degradation of the essential catalysts during fuel cell operation, which leads to a loss of active surface area and thus activity over time. Researchers from two Max Planck Institutes have joined efforts and developed and characterized novel nanostructured materials. A first break-through was achieved with a high-performance electrocatalyst that has demonstrated excellent stability properties.

For the full text, see the German version.

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