Leiden University Scholarly Publications

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Nagra, H.J. (2025)

Operando Spectro-electrochemical investigations of Pt and Pt-alloys as fuel cell catalysts

Doctoral Thesis
The overall theme of this thesis is to complement the electrochemical data acquired in fuel cell research with in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). On the basis of recent theoretical and experimental studies in the literature, it has been revealed that electrocatalysts experience dynamic changes under experimental conditions, adapting their initial state to the changing environment. Therefore, in situ identification of these changes in the electrocatalyst is key to understanding the atomic features that are associated with the performance of the electrocatalyst, separating them from spectator species. Precisely decoding the atomic scale configurations under realistic operation conditions has been a long standing challenge in the electrocatalysis community due to experimental challenges, which we try to address in this thesis. The methodology described in this thesis forms a general approach that can be used for a wide...Show moreThe overall theme of this thesis is to complement the electrochemical data acquired in fuel cell research with in situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). On the basis of recent theoretical and experimental studies in the literature, it has been revealed that electrocatalysts experience dynamic changes under experimental conditions, adapting their initial state to the changing environment. Therefore, in situ identification of these changes in the electrocatalyst is key to understanding the atomic features that are associated with the performance of the electrocatalyst, separating them from spectator species. Precisely decoding the atomic scale configurations under realistic operation conditions has been a long standing challenge in the electrocatalysis community due to experimental challenges, which we try to address in this thesis. The methodology described in this thesis forms a general approach that can be used for a wide variety of electrocatalytic systems. However, here we have focused on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on platinum and platinum related catalysts.
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X-ray spectroscopy
Oxygen reduction reaction
Platinum-Nickel electrocatalyst
Alloy electrocatalyst
X-ray Photoelectron spectroscopy
X-ray absorption spectroscopy
All authors
Nagra, H.J.
Supervisor
Koper, M.T.M.
Co-supervisor
Mom, R.V.
Committee
Ubbink, M.; Jeuken, L.J.C.; Ruitenbeek, J.M. van; Lladó, E.A.; Khalakhan, I.
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Leiden Institute of Chemistry (LIC), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
Date
2025-09-25
ISBN (print)
9789465227214