Pt and Sn doped sputtered CeO2 catalysts for fuel cell applications

Vladimir Matolin (1) , Milos Cabala (2) , Iva Matolinova (2) , Michal Skoda (2) , Michal Vaclavu (2) , Tomas Skala (3) , Kevin Charles Prince (3) , Toshiyuki Mori (4) , Heideki Yoshikawa (5) , Y Yamashita (5) , S Ueda (5) , K Kobayashi (5)

1 Surface and Plasma Science
2 Surface and Plasma Science
3 MSB
4 Fuel Cell
5 RIKEN RSC - RIKEN SPring-8 Center [Hyogo]

The interaction of Pt with CeO2 layers was investigated by using photoelectron spectroscopy. 30 nm thick Pt and Sn doped CeO2 layers were deposited simultaneously by rf-magnetron sputtering on a Si(001) substrate and a carbon diffusion layer of a polymer membrane fuel cell by using a composite CeO2-Pt-Sn target. The laboratory XPS and synchrotron radiation soft X-ray and hard X-ray photoemission spectra showed the formation of cerium oxide with completely ionized Pt2+, 4+ species, and with Pt4+ embedded in the film bulk. Hydrogen/air fuel cell activity measurements normalized to the amount of Pt used revealed high specific power of up to 5.4 x 104 mW/mg(Pt). The activity of these materials is explained by the strong activity of embedded Ptn+ cations.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Vladimir Matolin, Milos Cabala, Iva Matolinova, Michal Skoda, Michal Vaclavu, et al.. Pt and Sn doped sputtered CeO2 catalysts for fuel cell applications. Fuel Cells, 2010, ⟨10.1002/fuce.200900036⟩. ⟨hal-00552353⟩