Oxygen Reduction on Gas-Diffusion Electrodes for Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells by a Potential Decay Method

The reduction of gaseous oxygen on carbon supported platinum electrodes has been studied at 150 degrees C with polarization and potential decay measurements. The electrolyte was either 100 weight percent phosphoric acid or that acid with a fluorinated additive, potassium perfluorohexanesulfonate (C6F13SO3K).

The pseudo-Tafel curves of the overpotential vs. log (ii(L)/(i(L) - i)) show a two-slope behavior, probably due to different adsorption mechanisms. The potential relaxations as functions of log (t + tau) and log (-d eta/dt) have been plotted. The variations of these slopes and the dependence of the double-layer capacitance on the overpotential depended on the electrode manufacture and the kind of electrolyte (whether containing the fluorinated additive or not).