Evaluation of Electrocatalyst Activity, Stability and Selectivity during dynamic operation – Online Coupling of Analytical Techniques to Electrochemical Flow Cells

The investigation of novel catalyst materials for applications in fuel cells and electrolyzers, as well as the assessment of operation regimes, demands fast and highly informative characterization methods. Standard electrochemical approaches are often insufficient in information depth particularly when it comes to studying dynamic processes with high time resolution, so in-situ or online coupled analytics are necessary to enhance knowledge on catalytic materials. In this presentation I will demonstrate the portfolio of coupled analytical techniques that have been developed over the last decade in our team, and which help obtaining complementary data on particularly stability versus dissolution and selectivity towards gases and liquid chemical products. Starting out from an advanced high-throughput screening approach as the electrochemical platform, namely the Scanning Flow Cell (SFC), various coupled mass spectrometry techniques with second time resolution provide novel insights into electrocatalytic processes. Hopefully these insights aid in the further technical developments of novel catalysts and improved reaction conditions for fuel cells and electrolyzers, which are so desperately required for the successful implementation of the Energiewende.

References

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