• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.260-266
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• 2018

To enhance catalyst activity of the palladium (Pd) towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), iridium (Ir) and yttrium (Y) were alloyed by polyol method. Due to the low reduction potential of Y, it is hard to reduce Y ion completely by polyol method. In XPS spectra, the binding energy of the Pd is shifted to a lower value, which indicates the d-electron of Pd is filled by the electron from the Y. And other phases of Y are observed by the XPS. Among the catalysts, the $Pd_4IrY_{0.1}/C$ showed the best activity towards ORR, which indicates the metallic Y is effective for improving the catalytic activity. Thus, for further enhancing ORR activity, the novel method for complete reduction of Y is needed.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.56 no.12
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• pp.910-914
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• 2018

Since catalyst technology is one of the promising technologies to improve the working performance of next generation energy and electronic devices, many efforts have been made to develop various catalysts with high efficiency at a low cost. However, there are remaining challenges to be resolved in order to use the suggested catalytic materials, such as platinum (Pt), gold (Au), and palladium (Pd), due to their poor cost-effectiveness for device applications. In this study, to overcome these challenges, we suggest a useful method to increase the surface area of a noble metal catalyst material, resulting in a reduction of the total amount of catalyst usage. By employing block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly and nano-transfer printing (n-TP) processes, we successfully fabricated sub-20 nm Pt line and cross-bar patterns. Furthermore, we obtained a highly ordered Pt cross-bar pattern on a Ni thin film and a Pt-embedded Ni thin film, which can be used as hetero hybrid alloy catalyst structure. For a detailed analysis of the hybrid catalytic material, we used scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), which revealed a well-defined nanoporous Pt nanostructure on the Ni thin film. Based on these results, we expect that the successful hybridization of various catalytic nanostructures can be extended to other material systems and devices in the near future.