"QUATERNARY METAL ALLOYS FOR USE IN FUEL CELLS"

Inventors: T.E. Mallouk, et al.

PSU Inv. Disc. No. 1908

Licensing Contact: Matthew D. Smith

Issued U.S. Patent No. 6,284,402

The subject invention describes a new quaternary alloy electrocatalyst that has substantially higher activity in PEM fuel cells than Pt-Ru. Current-voltage curves comparing the performance of this catalyst to that of the best commercially available Pt-Ru in identical direct methanol-air fuel cells are shown below. As demonstrated, this invention's catalyst doubles the performance of the commercially available Pt/Ru catalyst. In addition, the surface area per gram of the new catalyst is half that of the optimized Pt/Ru catalyst, implying that an activity of up to four times that of the Pt/Ru catalyst should be possible.