Membrane degradation mitigation using zirconia as a hydrogen peroxide decomposition catalyst

Zirconia as a hydrogen peroxide decomposition catalyst is firstly investigated to mitigate the membrane degradation in terms of the in situ open circuit voltage (OCV) test and the ex situ Fenton test. OCV decay rate and fluorine emission rate (FER) are used to quantify the membrane degradation rate. The rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) is also employed to further confirm the effect. The ZrO2-Nafion membrane exhibits more stable OCV and lower FER than the recast Nafion, suggesting that ZrO2 nanoparticles have the potential to enhance membrane durability. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.