Catalyst development for viability of electrochemical hydrogen purifier and compressor (EHPC) technology

Considering the disadvantages of conventional compressors, which are widely used in the world, it is thought that the electrochemical hydrogen purifier and compressor system (EHPC) to be developed will provide great advantages in hydrogen technologies. The electrocatalyst, which is one of the main components of the EHPC system, is critical for both the performance and applicability of the system. In this study, commercial carbon black supported Pt and Pd containing catalysts were prepared for the EHPC system by using microwave heating method. The synthesized catalysts were mono and bimetallic and were named as Pt/C, Pd/C and PtPd/C, respectively. By characterizing the prepared catalysts with ICP-MS, SEM-EDS, TEM, XRD and XPS, information about the distribution, amount, morphology and composition of metal nanoparticles on the support material was obtained. In addition, electrochemical properties of the catalysts were determined by CV analysis. The physical characterization results revealed that the catalysts were successfully synthesized by microwave method and that different ratios of metals and bimetallic could be loaded on the support material. It was also seen that the electrochemical activity of the PtPd/C bimetallic catalyst was better than the others.