Platinum catalyst in fuel cells

A fuel cell is a power generation device that converts energy into electricity with very high efficiencies. when run on hydrogen and air, hydrogen and oxygen molecules combine to provide electricity with water as the only byproduct. The key to making a fuel cell work is a catalyst, which facilitates the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The most common, but expensive, catalyst is platinum. Currently, the amount of platinum catalyst required per kilowatt to power a fuel cell engine is about 0.5 to 0.8 grams. The platinum is the only preferred catalyst and is the major contributor to the cost of such fuel cells. The reasons for the higher activity of Pt alloys for oxygen reduction are due to the measured improvement in the stability to sintering, surface roughening due to removal of some base metal which increases the Pt surface area, preferential crystal orientation, a more favourable Pt-Pt interatomic distance, electronic effects and oxygen adsorption differences due to modified anion and water adsorption.