Synergistically Enhanced Electrocatalytic Stability of Pt Catalyst Supported by Doped Porous Carbon Nanostructure for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

In proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the utilization of supporting materials for Pt-based catalysts is an effective approach to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance. In this study, a doped porous carbon (DPC) as a support was prepared with polyaniline as the main carbon source, iron nitrate nonahydrate as a metal doping source, and dicyandiamide as a nitrogen doping source in the presence of 20 nm silica bead as a template. The carbon support showed fairly high specific surface area (similar to 740 m(2) g(-1)), well-defined pore structure, and a proper nitrogen doping (similar to 4.9 at.%). The Pt cathode catalyst deposited on the doped porous carbon using an NaBH4 reduction method (Pt/DPC) exhibited significantly improved ORR performance in the half and single cells, compared with the conventional carbon-supported Pt catalyst. The superior ORR stability of Pt/DPC may be as a result of the particular interaction between Pt catalyst and DPC support as a doped carbon. Graphical