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In situ small-angle x-ray scattering analysis of improved catalyst—support interactions through nitrogen modification

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Abstract

In situ small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) is used to investigate the electrochemical durability of Pt-Metal (Pt-M) catalysts sputtered onto nitrogen-modified high surface area carbon powder. The results demonstrate that nitrogen modification promotes catalyst durability through reduction of nanoparticle dissolution and coarsening. Although particle sizes of Pt-M on high surface area carbon supports can be difficult to determine with transmission electron microscopy (TEM), a novel SAXS method has been employed to calculate particle size. SAXS analysis shows that the Pt-M nanoparticle size distribution remained stable for 3000 electrochemical cycles after nitrogen modification, whereas the unmodified support material leads to Pt-M nanoparticle instabilities. These results for industrial-relevant catalyst/support architectures underscore the potential of nitrogen-modified carbon support structures for enhanced Pt-M catalyst durability.

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Acknowledgments

This work was in cooperation with SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The work at CSM is supported by the Army Research Office under Grant No. W911NF-09-1-0528. The work at NREL is supported by the US Department of Energy EERE, FCT Program, under Contract No. DE-AC36-08-GO28308 with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The authors also acknowledge Electron Microscopy Laboratory at CSM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado, 80401, USA

    Kevin N. Wood, Svitlana Pylypenko & Ryan O’Hayre

  2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, 80401, USA

    Steven T. Christensen, Tim S. Olson, Arrelaine A. Dameron, Katherine E. Hurst, Huyen N. Dinh & Thomas Gennett

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  1. Kevin N. Wood
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  2. Steven T. Christensen
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  3. Svitlana Pylypenko
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  4. Tim S. Olson
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  5. Arrelaine A. Dameron
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  6. Katherine E. Hurst
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  7. Huyen N. Dinh
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  8. Thomas Gennett
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  9. Ryan O’Hayre
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Correspondence to Ryan O’Hayre.

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For supplementary material for this article, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2012.13

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Wood, K.N., Christensen, S.T., Pylypenko, S. et al. In situ small-angle x-ray scattering analysis of improved catalyst—support interactions through nitrogen modification. MRS Communications 2, 85–89 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrc.2012.13

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