Oxygen reduction at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface

A solid-state cell is used to study the electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface. The catalyst/membrane interface exhibits improved performance in comparison to a catalyst/aqueous sodium hydroxide interface. Surprisingly, the half-wave potential for oxygen reduction is shown to shift 185 mV higher at the silver/hydroxide-exchange membrane interface than for the silver/aqueous hydroxide solution interface, and the exchange current density is significantly higher at 1.02 × 10−6 A m−2. On a cost per performance basis, silver electrocatalysts in a hydroxide-exchange membrane fuel cell may provide better performance than platinum in a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell.