A Development of the Nanostructured Conducting Carbon/Polymer Composites As a Stable Electrode for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

• Published in: Meeting abstracts (Electrochemical Society) Vol. MA2016-02; no. 38; p. 2655
• Main Authors: Song, Youjung, Lee, JuHee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.09.2016
• ISSN: 2151-2043; 2151-2035
• DOI: 10.1149/MA2016-02/38/2655

One of the main issues restricting wide-spread commercialization of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) is the gradual decline in their performance during operation, primarily due to degradation of cathode catalyst layer by sintering, dissolution and re-deposition of Pt and corrosion of carbon support. Development of durable carbon-based supports for PEMFC electrodes can be beneficial for improving catalytic activity and stability of the electrocatalysts. Accordingly, various carbons (carbon blacks, carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofibers, and graphenes) as well as metal oxides are extensively explored as support materials. Among them, mesoporous carbon (MC) is highly attractive from the viewpoint of pore structure and pore-size distribution desired for mass-transport and enhanced Pt-utilization, which enables encountering problems inherent with microporous carbon black support (i.e., Vulcan XC-72R). On top of that, improvement of catalytic performance can be obtained by modifications in both surface chemistry and pore structure of MC. Therefore, in situ polymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene(EDOT) with mesoporous carbon is prepared as catalyst support for platinum nanoparticles by sol-gel method. This conducting polymer was chosen owing to its characteristics such as high chemical, thermal stability, and high electrical conductivity of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)(PEDOT). Pt nanoparticles are then impregnated onto the MC-PEDOT composite using conventional formaldehyde reduction method. Resulting Pt supported MC-PEDOT composite exhibits promising electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), which make it attractive for use as electrode material for fuel cell application. The morphology and nanosturcture of Pt supported MC-PEDOT was confirmed by several analysis equipment including SEM, TEM, BET and FT-IR. Electrochemical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV) and impedance measurements are also used to evaluate the extent of degradation in the catalyst layer.