Mr. Furkan Dundar, from the Department of Material Science and Engineering, Gebze Institute of Technology, Kocaeli, Turkey and a visiting scholar in Dr. Wynne's lab will present the CLSE seminar on October 21, 2009.
The seminar will be held in Room 401, Engineering West Building from 11:00AM-12:30PM.
Silica Modified Carbon Support for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cells
Fuel cells have received great attention because they promise clean and efficient electric power generating systems. Among other types, proton exchange (polymer electrolyte) membrane (PEM) fuel cells are a leading technology for product development and manufacturing. However PEM fuel cells are not yet commercialized. Studies showed that there are three important factors at the component level, namely performance, durability and cost that need improvement to gain a competitive edge in relation to competing technologies. Each component has its own challenges. As one of the components, improvements in catalyst durability are important due to the high cost of precious metals utilized (Pt, Ru). Catalyst performance can be improved through development of more highly active materials, through improvement of catalyst stability and/or distribution on the support, usually carbon. The subject of this presentation is the discovery that silica modified carbon as a support material for platinum nanoparticles showed improved PEM performance and durability. The modified catalyst was evaluated with cyclic voltammetry and rotating disc electrode methods. Additional fuel cell performance and durability experiments were conducted for validation. Durability is improved by a combination of corrosion prevention, catalyst agglomeration and catalyst dissolution, the details of which are not yet clear. TEM imaging suggests that sol gel processing utilizing TMOS as a precursor increases the carbon support surface area by generating an aerogel like structure. Even though silica is an insulator the performance of the catalyst is improved due to the better distribution of the catalyst material. Surprisingly, the durability of the catalyst is also improved by the presence of the silica framework.
Mr. Furkan Dundar is currently pursuing his Ph.D in Materials Science and Engineering at the Gebze Institute of Technology, Turkey. He received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 2004 and his M.S in Materials Engineering from the Gebze Institute of Technology in 2006. He has been a visiting researcher at the Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center at the University of Connecticut (2004-2005) and is currently pursuing collaborative research with Dr. Kenneth Wynne in the Department of Chemical & Life Science Engineering at VCU. His research interests are in the design and application of fuel cells.
