GIST Develops Low-Cost Next-Generation Fuel Cell Catalyst

Professor Chan-Ho Park's research team (from left: Seong-Hoon Han, Master's student; Jong-Kyung Kim, integrated Master's and Ph.D. student; Professor Chan-Ho Park) Photo by GIST

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Cho Hyung-joo] GIST (Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) announced on the 3rd that Professor Park Chan-ho's research team at the Graduate School of Energy Convergence succeeded in enhancing the catalytic activity of non-precious metal oxygen reduction reaction catalysts by introducing heteroatoms, which are cheaper than platinum.

Previous studies improved performance by adding relatively expensive transition metals such as cobalt to non-precious metal catalysts, but this study introduced heteroatoms into a non-precious metal catalyst primarily composed of inexpensive iron, securing optimized catalytic activity without significantly increasing the catalyst manufacturing cost, and proposed dual catalytic active sites.

Additionally, the catalyst was implemented as an electrode in collaboration with Dr. Bae Byung-chan's research team at the Korea Institute of Energy Research to evaluate single cell performance.

The research team presented a non-precious metal catalyst that outperforms platinum under alkaline conditions based on half-cell test results.

The team analyzed catalytic activity and structure by varying the ratio of iron to copper and the presence of heteroatoms, and with the help of Professor Jang Seung-soon’s research team at Georgia Institute of Technology, elucidated through computational chemistry the reason why introducing copper into the non-precious metal catalyst enhances catalytic activity.

They confirmed that the oxidation state of iron changes with the introduction of heteroatoms, altering the adsorption state of reaction intermediates during the oxygen reduction reaction, thereby improving the reaction rate.

The research team experimentally demonstrated that when iron content is higher than copper, aggregation occurs easily, and when copper content is higher, the number of catalytic active sites is insufficient, with the highest activity observed at an iron to copper ratio of 1:1.

Professor Park Chan-ho stated, "This study is significant in developing non-precious metal catalysts applicable to next-generation anion exchange membrane fuel cells," adding, "It not only suggests a direction for future catalyst development but is also expected to contribute to cost reduction of anion exchange membrane fuel cells through electrode optimization."

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