Technology Category/Market
Chemical Engineering: Process design, Reaction Eng.
Industry: Fuel cell, Reactor Design, Chemicals Mfg.
Applications: Organic synthesis, hydrogen storage.
Market: The global Palladium Catalyst market size in  2022 was USD 547.99 M, expected with CAGR of  4.79% reaching USD 725.68 M by 2028.
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Problem Statement
- Palladium is a catalyst used in variety of reactions involving electro-oxidation and reduction.
- Solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) reactors are made of palladium catalysts and allow facile transport of ionic species to the catalyst surface through the membrane  under an applied potential.
- However, the control over morphology of palladium nanostructures on carbon or CNTs based substrates has been difficult, especially with the conventional  method of the chemical reduction.
- Hence, there is a demand of a new method to address  the above mentioned issues.
Technology
A method of preparing palladium dendrites
Coating carbon on a carbon paper by  dispersing carbon powder in a mixture of  an ionomer and a solvent followed by ultrasonic.
Activating carbon surface electro-  chemically by potential cycling in an acidic  electrolyte
Electrodepositing palladium on the electrochemically activated carbon coated carbon paper by potential cycling using palladium chloride as a precursor at a  concentration of 1.0 mM
- The carbon paper  is  Teflonised  Carbon,  including Vulcan XC-72R and Ketjen Black.
- The ionomer is Nafion, and Isopropanol is solvent.
- The carbon coated carbon paper is air dried.
- The acidic electrolyte used for electrochemical activation of carbon is sulfuric acid with a strength of 0.5 m, that increases  hydrophilicity and generates surface defects  on carbon substrate.
- The acidic medium used for palladium dendrites electro-deposition is perchloric acid with 0.01 m strength.
- By increasing cycles of electro-deposition from 5  to  25  increases  the  growth,  size  & strength of electro-deposited palladium.
- The three-dimensional dendrites with complete coverage is prepared by increasing deposition cycles to 25 on the carbon paper.
Key Features/Value Proposition
Technical perspective
- The electric field between working electrode and the counter electrode assists vertical  growth of dendrites on carbon surface.
- The electrochemical activation is done for 100 cycles in the potential range – 0.2 to 0.8 V Ag/AgCl electrode with platinum wire being  the counter electrode at scan rate of 100 mvs.
- The potential cycling is performed in acidic medium in potential range of -0.2 to 0.8 V Ag/AgCl electrode at a scan rate of 20 mvs.
Industrial perspective
- Used in the field of fuel cells, organic synthesis, hydrogen storage and sensing.
- Used in the SPE reactors to enhance the hydrogenation reaction rates of triglycerides.
User perspective
- Environment friendly & are widely preferred.
Questions about this Technology?
Contact for Licensing
Research Lab
Prof: Raghuram Chetty
Department of Chemical Engineering
Intellectual Property
- IDF Ref: 895
- IN Patent No. 303912 (Granted)
- PCT Application No:Â PCT/IN2013/000522
Technology Readiness Level
TRL- 3/4
Proof of concept ready Stage
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