{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101207"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101207","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Electrochemical analysis of active species in a low iron content oxygen reduction reaction catalyst and aluminium covetic materials","abstract":"In an effort to move away from fossil fuels and towards cleaner energy, the cleaner energy options need to be efficient and practical. Low temperature fuel cells have significant promise, yet must be improved before widespread use is reached. One major way to reduce the price of fuel cells and increase fuel cell efficiency is to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst so that Pt is no longer used. Changing catalysts has proven to be difficult since it is not understood how the reaction proceeds on a non-precious metal (NPM). In the current work, a low Fe content, high activity ORR catalyst was prepared and characterized to elucidate the active species. The prepared catalyst went through several activating and deactivating treatments in order to elucidate active species for the ORR. Mӧssbauer spectroscopy determined that the Fe species present in the as-prepared catalyst was FeN4 rather than metallic Fe. Cyclic voltammetry was utilized to study activity changes throughout treatments on the catalyst. The as-prepared catalyst exhibits a competitive activity of 0.9 V vs RHE and poisoning studies with CN- suggests the activity is not solely due to the Fe in the catalyst. Attempts were made to alter the C in the catalyst and the C was studied via 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR). In addition to a study of ORR catalysts, the corrosion characteristics of covetic Al materials were also studied. Linear polarization curves show that the corrosion potential of covetic materials is increased compared to base alloy materials. However, Tafel fitting of the polarization curves indicate the rate of corrosion is also increased for covetic Al materials.","abstract_html":"In an effort to move away from fossil fuels and towards cleaner energy, the cleaner energy options need to be efficient and practical. Low temperature fuel cells have significant promise, yet must be improved before widespread use is reached. One major way to reduce the price of fuel cells and increase fuel cell efficiency is to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst so that Pt is no longer used. Changing catalysts has proven to be difficult since it is not understood how the reaction proceeds on a non-precious metal (NPM). In the current work, a low Fe content, high activity ORR catalyst was prepared and characterized to elucidate the active species. The prepared catalyst went through several activating and deactivating treatments in order to elucidate active species for the ORR. Mӧssbauer spectroscopy determined that the Fe species present in the as-prepared catalyst was FeN4 rather than metallic Fe. Cyclic voltammetry was utilized to study activity changes throughout treatments on the catalyst. The as-prepared catalyst exhibits a competitive activity of 0.9 V vs RHE and poisoning studies with CN- suggests the activity is not solely due to the Fe in the catalyst. Attempts were made to alter the C in the catalyst and the C was studied via 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR). In addition to a study of ORR catalysts, the corrosion characteristics of covetic Al materials were also studied. Linear polarization curves show that the corrosion potential of covetic materials is increased compared to base alloy materials. However, Tafel fitting of the polarization curves indicate the rate of corrosion is also increased for covetic Al materials.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["DiAscro, Angela Marie"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Chemistry","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Gewirth, Andrew A."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-09-04T20:36:50Z","date_published":"2018-09-04T20:36:50Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:38Z","subjects":["Oxygen reduction","Electrochemistry","Non-precious metal electrocatalysis","Aluminum covetic"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2018 Angela DiAscro"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101207","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Gewirth, Andrew A."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["DiAscro, Angela Marie"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2018-09-04T20:36:50Z","2020-09-05T09:15:23Z","2018-04-24","2018-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Chemistry"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Oxygen reduction","Electrochemistry","Non-precious metal electrocatalysis","Aluminum covetic"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2018 Angela DiAscro"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101207"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["In an effort to move away from fossil fuels and towards cleaner energy, the cleaner energy options need to be efficient and practical. Low temperature fuel cells have significant promise, yet must be improved before widespread use is reached. One major way to reduce the price of fuel cells and increase fuel cell efficiency is to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst so that Pt is no longer used. Changing catalysts has proven to be difficult since it is not understood how the reaction proceeds on a non-precious metal (NPM). In the current work, a low Fe content, high activity ORR catalyst was prepared and characterized to elucidate the active species. The prepared catalyst went through several activating and deactivating treatments in order to elucidate active species for the ORR. Mӧssbauer spectroscopy determined that the Fe species present in the as-prepared catalyst was FeN4 rather than metallic Fe. Cyclic voltammetry was utilized to study activity changes throughout treatments on the catalyst. The as-prepared catalyst exhibits a competitive activity of 0.9 V vs RHE and poisoning studies with CN- suggests the activity is not solely due to the Fe in the catalyst. Attempts were made to alter the C in the catalyst and the C was studied via 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR). In addition to a study of ORR catalysts, the corrosion characteristics of covetic Al materials were also studied. Linear polarization curves show that the corrosion potential of covetic materials is increased compared to base alloy materials. However, Tafel fitting of the polarization curves indicate the rate of corrosion is also increased for covetic Al materials.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2020-05-01","The student, Angela DiAscro, accepted the attached license on 2018-04-22 at 13:23.","The student, Angela DiAscro, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2018-04-22 at 14:40.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2018-04-24 at 10:00.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12415 on 2018-08-31 at 17:21:11","Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T20:36:50Z (GMT). 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Low temperature fuel cells have significant promise, yet must be improved before widespread use is reached. One major way to reduce the price of fuel cells and increase fuel cell efficiency is to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalyst so that Pt is no longer used. Changing catalysts has proven to be difficult since it is not understood how the reaction proceeds on a non-precious metal (NPM). In the current work, a low Fe content, high activity ORR catalyst was prepared and characterized to elucidate the active species. The prepared catalyst went through several activating and deactivating treatments in order to elucidate active species for the ORR. Mӧssbauer spectroscopy determined that the Fe species present in the as-prepared catalyst was FeN4 rather than metallic Fe. Cyclic voltammetry was utilized to study activity changes throughout treatments on the catalyst. The as-prepared catalyst exhibits a competitive activity of 0.9 V vs RHE and poisoning studies with CN- suggests the activity is not solely due to the Fe in the catalyst. Attempts were made to alter the C in the catalyst and the C was studied via 13C solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR). In addition to a study of ORR catalysts, the corrosion characteristics of covetic Al materials were also studied. Linear polarization curves show that the corrosion potential of covetic materials is increased compared to base alloy materials. However, Tafel fitting of the polarization curves indicate the rate of corrosion is also increased for covetic Al materials.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2020-05-01","The student, Angela DiAscro, accepted the attached license on 2018-04-22 at 13:23.","The student, Angela DiAscro, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2018-04-22 at 14:40.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2018-04-24 at 10:00.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #12415 on 2018-08-31 at 17:21:11","Made available in DSpace on 2018-09-04T20:36:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 DIASCRO-THESIS-2018.pdf: 1709436 bytes, checksum: 2db52279cb68e8656d9b17c66fce8b14 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4211 bytes, checksum: 952cf7914e3f92784e2d6d7b3ad442da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-04-24","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 107291 Lift date: 2020-09-04T20:37:00Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","Embargo set by: Seth Robbins for item 107291 Lift date: 2020-09-04T20:42:08Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD system","U of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 107291 on 2020-09-05T09:15:23Z."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101207"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2018 Angela DiAscro"],"dc:subject":["Oxygen reduction","Electrochemistry","Non-precious metal electrocatalysis","Aluminum covetic"],"dc:title":["Electrochemical analysis of active species in a low iron content oxygen reduction reaction catalyst and aluminium covetic materials"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Chemistry"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:38Z"}