An investigation into factors affecting the stability of carbons and carbon supported platinum and platinum/cobalt alloy catalysts during 1.2 V potentiostatic hold regimes at a range of temperatures

To meet automotive targets for fuel cell operation and allow higher temperature operation an understanding of the factors affecting carbon and platinum stability is critical. The stability of both carbons and carbon supported platinum and platinum/cobalt alloy catalysts was studied during 1.2 V versus RHE potentiostatic hold tests using carbon and catalyst coated electrodes in a three-chamber wet electrolyte cell at a range of temperatures. At 80 °C the wt% of carbon corroded increases with increasing BET area. Surface oxidation was followed electrochemically using the quinone/hydroquinone redox couple. Increasing temperature, time at 1.2 V and wt% platinum on the carbon increases surface oxidation. Although increasing temperature was shown to increase the extent of carbon corrosion, catalysing the carbon did not significantly change how much carbon was corroded. Platinum stability was investigated by electrochemical metal area loss (ECA). Platinum catalysts on commercial carbons lost more ECA with increasing temperature. A platinum/cobalt alloy on a low surface area carbon was demonstrated to be more stable to both carbon corrosion and metal area loss at temperatures up to 80 °C than platinum catalysts on commercial carbons, making this material an excellent candidate for higher temperature automotive operation.