Nonporous Carbon-Supported Platinum Catalyst for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

Year 2023, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 53 - 60, 31.12.2023

Ayşenur Öztürk Aydın Ayşe Bayrakçeken Yurtcan

Abstract

In this study, a commercial, nonporous carbon black was used as catalyst support for the dispersion of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The microstructure of nonporous carbon black was determined by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis and crystal structure by x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The surface area of carbon black is 72.6 m2/g, and the micropore volume has low fraction in the total volume. The fact that the d(002)value determined according to XRD analysis is 0.377 nm indicates the amorphous structure of nonporous carbon. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analysis determined the Pt loading on nonporous carbon as 15 wt.%. Catalyst support was also investigated electrochemically by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In CV analysis, as the scan rate increases, capacitive property increases. Furthermore, the low current density of the quinone-hydroquinone (Q-HQ) redox peak suggests nonporous carbon black’s corrosion resistance. Nonporous carbon black, whose charge transfer resistance is 454.5 Ω based on EIS analysis, facilitates the mass transfer of species due to its low porosity. Nonporous carbon is preferred to alleviate the water flooding that occurs at the cathode electrode of PEM fuel cells. Platinum NPs supported with nonporous carbon provided 15 and 40 mW/cm2 maximum power
densities in PEM fuel cell performance tests at 60°C and 70°C, respectively. As the sustainable energy conversion technology of the future, PEM fuel cells can produce enough power to operate everything from mW-scale portable applications to kW-MW-scale transportation and residential uses. In this study, the performance of the nonporous carbon-supported Pt catalyst can be suitable for mW scale applications.

Keywords

Nonporous carbon black, Pt catalyst, support material, ORR, PEM fuel cell

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