In situ functionalisation of mesoporous carbon electrodes with carbon nanotubes for proton exchange membrane fuel-cell application

Autor: Akram Maghsodi, Fatemeh Shoghi, Leila Samiee
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
Zdroj: Materials Chemistry and Physics. 143:1228-1235
ISSN: 0254-0584
DOI: 10.1016/j.matchemphys.2013.11.027
Popis: In the work presented here, an attempt is made to study the effect of different carbon supports on the mesostructural properties as well as electrochemical behaviour of Pt/carbon supports. In this respect, the functionalised samples have been synthesised by using CMK-3, nickelocene as nickel source and the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process for growth of carbon nanotubes. The platinum catalysts (Pt 20 wt.%) were obtained through a conventional wet impregnation method. All the materials have been characterised by XRD (small- and high-) angle, N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that the mesostructural structure had been partially destroyed by functionalisation of CMK-3 with NiO and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Moreover, wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXRD) studies revealed the formation of smaller platinum crystallite sizes compared to Vulcan-supported samples. Furthermore, electrochemical evaluation indicates that CMK-3–CNT–20Pt gives a specific surface area of 58.9 m 2 g −1 . Finally, the polarisation curves for the fabricated membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with Pt loading of 0.5 mg cm −2 demonstrated that the CMK-3–CNT–20Pt catalyst shows better performance than industrial catalysts and even Vulcan–40% Pt.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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