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Car news / Hitachi Maxell Develops New Highly-Active Catalyst for Higher Performance Fuel Cells; Achieves 4.8x More Oxygen-Reduction Current than Platinum

01.04.2008

Hitachi Maxell Develops New Highly-Active Catalyst for Higher Performance Fuel Cells; Achieves 4.8x More Oxygen-Reduction Current than Platinum

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Tokyo, Japan, Apr 1, 2008 - (JCN Newswire) - Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.has announced development of a new catalyst used foroxygen-reduction reactions at the cathode of a polymer electrolyte fuelcell (PEFC). The new catalyst is gold-platinum (AuPt) nano-particle 2 to3 nm in size and can generate approximately 4.8 times theoxygen-reduction current per unit area than commercial platinumcatalysts.PEFCs are a promising clean-energy source for automobiles, homes, andmobile devices. Platinum is commonly used as the catalyst for theoxygen-reduction reaction in PEFCs, but platinum is an extremelyexpensive precious metal, so reducing material cost for PEFCs byminimizing the amount of platinum used, while improving its catalyticeffect is an important R&D topic.Increasing the surface area of the catalyst by reducing particle size isan effective way of improving catalytic activity. It has also beenreported that the addition of base metals such as iron, cobalt andnickel to platinum also improves the oxygen-reduction reaction rate, butthese kinds of base metals dissolve easily in the acidic environment ofa PEFC where the catalyst is working, which is a problem.Maxell has developed a new catalyst for oxygen-reduction reactions inPEFCs. The new catalyst is a composition of platinum and gold and isresistant to acidic environments. It was difficult to synthesize goldparticles smaller than 5 nm due to its relatively low melting point, butby applying a proprietary nano-level particle synthesizing technology,Maxell has succeeded in developing a high-activity structure in whichthe gold and platinum are not fully alloyed for the new catalyst. Usingcitric acid as a reducing agent, AuPt catalyst particles 2 to 3 nm insize were synthesized at 373 K. Compared with platinum catalysts, thisnew AuPt catalyst achieves approximately 4.8 times higheroxygen-reduction current per unit area. X-ray diffraction analysisrevealed that the gold and platinum are not fully alloyed and it issupposed that this structure results in the improved theoxygen-reduction reaction activity.This success represents a large step closer to fuel cells that arepractical for applications requiring large current, such as automobilesand homes.Maxell presented this new technology for synthesizing a highly-activeAuPt catalyst at the 101st catalysis conference held March 29 at theTower Hall Funabori in Tokyo.Maxell will continue nano-technology research and development towardspractical applications in polymer-electrolyte and direct-methanol fuelcells.Hitachi MaxellSince its foundation in 1960, Hitachi Maxell, Ltd. has ledthe electronics industry at home and abroad in the fields of memory andmobility. Maxell is a leading manufacturer of information storage mediaproducts including magnetic tapes, optical disks, and battery productsincluding lithium ion rechargeable batteries, micro batteries and drycell batteries. For more information on Maxell, please visit theCompany"s web site at www.maxell.com .

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