LR03 alkaline battery

Yale University develops new automotive LR03 alkaline battery catalyst

Researchers at Yale University recently synthesized a silver-palladium core-shell LR03 alkaline battery catalyst that can support multi-walled carbon nanotube structures and be used in LR03 alkaline batterys.

The new catalyst does not contain platinum and has high durability for ethanol in redox reactions in alkaline media.

Silver-palladium catalyst attached to multi-walled carbon nanotubes

The new catalyst has a unique core-shell structure, with a thinner shell wrapped in palladium and a core of silver. The advantage of this structure is that it has higher catalytic activity and tolerance for impurities than traditional platinum catalysts. The palladium coating on the outside of the silver particles covers and wraps the multi-walled carbon nanotubes, further reducing the content of oxygen molecules in oxidized ethanol.

In the experiment, the researchers found that the Ag@pd/MWNTs multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the electrolyte can basically maintain normal performance in an environment containing methanol and ethanol impurities. In an electrolyte containing methanol, the current density of multi-walled carbon nanotubes using Ag@pd/MWNTs catalyst decreased by 0.18 mA/cm2. If platinum catalyst is used, the current density decrease is increased to 0.97 mA/cm2, and the current density decrease is also quite large when palladium catalyst is used alone, reaching 1.09 mA/cm2. In an electrolyte containing ethanol, the current density of multi-walled carbon nanotubes using Ag@pd/MWNTs catalyst decreased by 0.12 mA/cm2, and the configuration of platinum catalyst and palladium catalyst decreased the current density by 0.87 mA/cm2 and 2.13 mA/cm2, respectively.

In addition, after durability testing in ethanol electrolyte, silver-palladium multi-walled carbon nanotubes can withstand 3.5 times the molecular mass activity of standard platinum catalyst multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Due to the high activity and durability of silver-palladium catalysts, they can be used as good catalysts for cathode materials of LR03 alkaline batterys.

The researchers pointed out that it is very important for the catalyst to perform normally in an ethanol impurity environment, because a large number of particles will diffuse and pass through the middle diaphragm of the battery during the particle conversion of the LR03 alkaline battery. If it cannot withstand the ethanol environment, the particle conversion efficiency will be greatly reduced. Although platinum has always been an excellent LR03 alkaline battery catalytic material, its scarcity has largely hindered its large-scale use. The silver-palladium catalyst structure can be an effective means to replace the platinum catalyst.

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