Development of multiwalled carbon nanotubes platinum nanocomposite as efficient PEM fuel cell catalyst

Abstract

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes platinum nanocomposite has been prepared via chemical route by reduction of Pt salt on MWCNTs in ethylene glycol solution while refluxing in Argon atmosphere. The effect of different pH media during the reduction process on their physical and electrochemical properties, as well as on their performance in unit PEM fuel cell has been studied and further compared with the reaction carried out while refluxing in air as already demonstrated by the authors. The I-V performance of unit PEM fuel cell shows a peak Power density of 156 mW cm -2 with catalyst prepared in alkaline medium, an increase of [ 110 % as compared to 72 mW cm -2 obtained while employing catalyst prepared in acidic medium and tested under similar conditions. This is attributed not only to the small particle size of reduced Pt NPs, but also to its uniform distribution when reduction is carried out in alkaline medium. This has been further explained by detail reaction mechanism under alkaline conditions.

The effect of critical material prices on the competitiveness of clean energy technologies

“…They rely on a platinum catalyst, which is a major downside to this technology, as platinum group elements are expensive and deposits concentrated enough for economic mining are rare [19]. Researchers are looking into methods such as carbon nanotube supported platinum catalyst to reduce platinum use in PEM fuel cells, which would thereby reduce costs [20,21]. In the fuel cell case study presented in this paper, we considered only PEM fuel cells for FCEVs, as other types such as solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) are primarily used in stationary applications [18].…”

Supercritical, Freezing and Thermal Drying Process of Resorcinol‐Formaldehyde Polymer based Nano‐carbons and their Highly Loaded PtRu Anode Electrocatalyst for DMFC

“…Recently, various nano‐structured carbon materials, such as carbon nano tube (CNT), carbon nano fiber (CNF), ordered meso porous carbon, Ketjen Black, graphene and resorcinol‐formaldehyde based carbons have attracted much interest as supporting material of electrocatalyst in DMFC because of their enhanced electrochemical and mechanical properties . Among these carbons, resorcinol‐formaldehyde (RF) based carbons, such as carbon cryogel (CC), carbon xerogel (CX) and carbon aerogel (CA) have great attention due to large surface area, good electronic conductivity and proper porosities .…”

Electrostatic Adsorption of Platinum onto Carbon Nanotubes and Nanofibers for Nanoparticle Synthesis

“…A survey of Pt nanoparticle synthesis on these newer forms of carbon over the last three years turns up the two dozen papers listed in Table 1. The most common method of preparation involves reductive deposition of soluble Pt precursors using ethylene glycol or sodium borohydride as the reducing agent [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. These methods generally produce particles around 3-5 nm in diameter.…”