美国研究人员日前开发出一种不需要使用贵金属铂的新型氢燃料电池催化剂，可望解决燃料电池推广过程中的一个主要障碍。
 
　　据4月22日出版的美国新一期《科学》杂志报道，美国洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室和橡树岭国家实验室开发的催化剂通过加热聚苯胺、铁、钴盐生成，几乎与铂催化剂一样有效耐用。通常情况下，由非贵金属制备的类似催化剂容易在高度酸性情况下降解，但这种新型催化剂却能保持稳定。此外，这种催化剂可以使燃料电池高效完成将氢和氧转化为水的过程，仅产生极小量的过氧化氢。
 
　　论文作者彼得·泽列纳伊表示，与铂相比，新型催化剂的成本还极低。研究人员已申请相关专利。
 
　　氢燃料电池的工作原理实际上是个电化学过程，为了使这个过程快速和高效，通常需要使用大量贵金属铂作为催化剂。然而铂材料昂贵，而且是稀有资源，因此，氢燃料电池的大规模应用受到限制。
 
　　High-Performance Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Derived from Polyaniline, Iron, and Cobalt
　　Science 2011, 332, 443

　　The prohibitive cost of platinum for catalyzing the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has hampered the widespread useof polymer electrolyte fuel cells. We describe a family of non–precious metal catalysts that approach the performance of platinum-basedsystems at a cost sustainable for high-power fuel cell applications, possibly including automotive power. The approach usespolyaniline as a precursor to a carbon-nitrogen template for high-temperature synthesis of catalysts incorporating iron andcobalt. The most active materials in the group catalyze the ORR at potentials within ~60 millivolts of that delivered by state-of-the-artcarbon-supported platinum, combining their high activity with remarkable performance stability for non–precious metal catalysts(700 hours at a fuel cell voltage of 0.4 volts) as well as excellent four-electron selectivity (hydrogen peroxide yield <1.0%).