Kenta Kakitani (M1), Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management, wins a Award for Excellence at the Gunma Area Meeting of Kanto Branch of the Chemical Society of Japan

Mr. Kenta Kakitani, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management, wins a Award for Excellence at the Gunma Area Meeting of Kanto Branch of the Chemical Society of Japan.

The meeting is held every year by Kanto Branch of the Chemical Society of Japan in order to activate the researches on chemistry by companies, research institutes and universities in Gunma prefecture. "Award for Excellence" is given to researchers who make a superior poster presentation at the meeting.

<About awarded research>

Presentation Title:“Improvement of Platinum Catalysts for Fuel Cell by Ion-Beam Technology: The Clarification of the mechanisms of the Activity Enhancement by X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure and Density Functional Theory Calculation”

Pt nanoparticles are usually employed as cathode catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEFCs). In order to widely commercialize PEFCs, Pt nanoparticles with the high ORR activity have been actively pursued worldwide. Quite recently, we found Pt nanoparticles supported on the glassy carbon (GC) substrate pre-irradiated with Ar ions show higher ORR activity than those on the non-irradiated GC. In order to clarify the mechanisms of this activity enhancement, we conducted X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) measurements and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation, and found that irradiation defects suppress the oxidation of Pt nanoparticles, leading to a high ORR activity.

<Comments>

I’m honored to be given the award for excellence. I’m determined to make more progress in the research on the fuel cell catalysts by using ion-beam-induced defects in materials.