Carbon-supported platinum and nickel nanoparticles for CO capture in hydrogen fuel cells

Hydrogen fuel cells (HFCs) are increasinly looked at as an important and promising source of clean energy with the potential to replace internal combustion engines in automobiles. However, current HFC use is limited by carbon monoxide poisoning of the anode catalyst. Therefore, the present project investigages membranes of metal nanoparticles decorated on sp ²-hybridized carbon surfaces that can be placed outside a fuel cell to capture CO before it enters the cell and poisons the anode catalyst. Density functional theory studies were performed with several metals on a small sp ²-hybridized carbon surface. It was found that CO adsorbs most strongly to platinum, followed closely by nickel. These results were investigated electrochemically for platinum and nickel nanoparticles decorated on several carbon substrates. It was found that CO adsorbs more strongly to Pt than Ni in all systems. However, the strength of CO adsorption to Pt is affected by the type of carbon substrate.