James continued our insights into alternatives to platinum as an oxygen reduction catalyst…

Investigation of Metal(II) Tetradiphenylaminophthalocyanines for Oxygen Reduction Catalysis in Fuel Cells; James A. Wortman, Thomas F. Guarr

Catalytic oxygen reduction (OR) is an important reaction in fuel cell design.  Platinum has been used as an OR catalyst, but its high cost has made large-scale applications impractical.  The purpose of this study was to investigate metal(II) tetra(diphenylamino)phthalocyanine (MT4(dpa)Pc) complexes as potential cheap alternatives to platinum.  The obtained complexes were electropolymerized into thin films using cyclic voltammetry (CV).  These polymer films may possess improved OR capabilities due to the nature of the diphenylamine substituent.

James is (another!) Chemical Engineering student from MSU.  He is part of the MSU Regional champion Chem-E-Car team and will join Brian and Mark at the Chem-E-Car competition in San Francisco this November.  Good luck to them and thank you to James for his hard work.