From bio-mineralisation to fuel cells: biomanufacture of Pt and Pd nanocrystals for fuel cell electrode catalyst

• DOI: 10.1007/s10529-006-9283-4
• Publication Date: 2007-02-12T10:47:23Z
• Authors: P. Yong; M. Paterson-Beedle; I. P. Mikheenko; L. E. Macaskie
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Biological Products; Minerals; 7. Clean energy; Catalysis; Nanostructures; 03 medical and health sciences; Electric Power Supplies; Electrochemistry; Desulfovibrio desulfuricans; Crystallization; Palladium; Platinum

Biosynthesis of nano-scale platinum and palladium was achieved via enzymatically-mediated deposition of metal ions from solution. The bio-accumulated Pt(0) and Pd(0) crystals were dried, applied onto carbon paper and tested as anodes in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell for power production. Up to 100% and 81% of the maximum power generation was achieved by the bio-Pt and bio-Pd catalysts, respectively, compared to commercial fuel cell grade Pt catalyst. Hence, biomineralisation could pave the way for economical production of fuel cell catalysts since previous studies have shown that precious metals can be biorecovered from wastes into catalytically active bionanomaterials.