Electrochemical and structure characteristics of PtCoCr/C-Catalyst with platinum content 50 wt % and cathode on its basis for fuel cell with proton-conducting polymer electrolyte

Electrochemical and structure characteristics of PtCoCr/C-catalyst with platinum content 50 wt % under model conditions and in cathode of membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) of hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell are studied. The metal-phase nanoparticles are shown to represent a Pt3Co alloy with partial inclusion of chromium, the nanoparticles surface being enriched with platinum. The platinum mass activity and the PtCoCr/C-catalyst high corrosion resistance do not depend on the amount of platinum deposited onto XC72 carbon black (20 or 50 wt %). Herewith the platinum surface area decreases in the same way as the carbon black specific surface area (measured with the BET method); the latter is 227, 169, and 105 m(2)/g for pure carbon black and that containing 20 and 50 wt % Pt, respectively. Testing of the 50PtCoCr/C-catalyst in the MEA cathode active layer in hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell showed performance not inferior to MEAs with pure-platinum systems, the catalyst being more stable.