The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 19, 2020
Filed:
Jun. 15, 2015
Georgetown University, Washington, DC (US);
YuYe J. Tong, Gaithersburg, MD (US);
Dejun Chen, Arlington, VA (US);
GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
Provided are electrocatalysts, fuel cells, methods of making fuel cells, and methods of generating an electric current, each featuring a platinum (Pt)-containing substrate in contact with an aqueous solution comprising Pb. Electrocatalysts of the invention are formed via underpotential deposition (UPD) when a trace amount of Pbis present in the electrolyte of a half anodic cell for oxidizing formic acid using Pt as the anode. Surprisingly, the UPD process dramatically enhances the activity of formic acid oxidation, at least as much as 10-fold compared with palladium (Pd) black. In an embodiment, the electrocatalyst comprises a Pt-containing substrate, a submonolayer of lead (Pb) adsorbed onto the Pt-containing substrate, and an aqueous solution comprising Pb, wherein the concentration of Pbin the aqueous solution is 10 to 500 μm.