Highly Stable PEMFC Electrodes Based on Electrospun Antimony‐Doped SnO₂

Abstract

High durability and activity for the oxygen reduction reaction were demonstrated for oxide‐supported platinum catalysts. The supports were antimony‐doped SnO2 (ATO) fibres‐in‐tubes obtained by electrospinning and subsequent calcination. The doping with antimony instead of the already‐reported niobium, allowed the preparation of tin oxide with electrical conductivity that was similar to carbon, which also had an increased electrocatalyst loading. Platinum nanoparticles supported on electrospun ATO demonstrated higher electrochemical stability and comparable mass activity to commercial Pt/C during ex situ potential cycling. The in situ fuel cell tests also revealed improved corrosion resistance with no noticeable degradation of the oxide‐based membrane electrode assembly (MEA), but a slightly lower performance compared to the MEA with carbon‐supported catalysts.

Towards ultrathin Pt films on nanofibres by surface-limited electrodeposition for electrocatalytic applications

“…These values are even higher than those obtained when using highly corrosion resistant metal oxide supports that however, present lower electrocatalytic performance. 35,[63][64][65] Furthermore, the ECSA decay trend of conventional Pt/C is identical to that of carbon nanofibres also bearing Pt nanoparticulate catalysts and submitted to the same accelerated stress test: 66 in both cases only 45 % of ECSA is retained after 10,000 electrochemical cycles. This result demonstrates that combination of Pt morphology and deposition method seems to be more crucial than the morphology of the support itself.…”

Impact of Highly Stable Catalyst Support Materials on Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Performance

“…For example, it should have high surface area, chemical and thermal stability, mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, effective metal support interactions, and catalyst particles that can uniformly be dispersed on its surface . Highly stable carbon‐based and noncarbon or inorganic cathode catalyst supports for PEMFCs are proposed by different scientists, as shown in previous studies. Graphitized carbons are found to be promising catalyst support materials in terms of both stabilities and activities as compared to nongraphitized carbon supports .…”

“…Inorganic oxide materials, for example, TiO 2 and SnO 2 , are considered stable under fuel cell operating conditions; nonetheless, their electrical conductivities are too low to be used as supports for PEMFCs . A significant improvement of electrical conductivities of metal oxides is achieved with appropriate doping, for example, Sb‐doped SnO 2 , Nb‐doped TiO 2 , In‐doped SnO 2 , and carbon‐doped TiO 2 . Nevertheless, their electrical conductivities and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) surface areas are not high enough to be applicable for PEMFCs.…”

Graphitized Carbon: A Promising Stable Cathode Catalyst Support Material for Long Term PEMFC Applications

“…However, the main problem of doped metal oxides is their low Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface areas and their low electronic conductivities compared to the CB support. Nevertheless, Sb-doped SnO 2 [20,21,22,23], Nb-doped SnO 2 [24], Nb-doped TiO 2 [25,26], and In-doped TiO 2 [27] are suggested as catalyst supports for PEMFC application. Catalyst supported on carbon-doped TiO 2 also showed improved stability compared to catalysts supported on CB reported by Huang et al [28] and Liu et al [29].…”