Tailored Hollow Core/Mesoporous Shell Carbon Nanofibers as Highly Efficient and Durable Cathode Catalyst Supports for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

Abstract

An electrocatalyst support material based on hierarchical mesoporous hollow carbon nanofibers (mPHCNFs) has been developed by co-axial electrospinning and has been deployed for the fabrication of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The synergistic effect of a high specific surface area (780 m 2 /g), homogeneous formation of mesopores (20-50 nm), and hollow nanochannels in the carbon nanofiber matrix lead to the uniform distribution of Pt electrocatalysts. XPS analysis revealed that the presence of nitrogen species in the mesoporous hollow carbon nanofibers in the form of pyridinic, pyrrolic, and quaternary nitrogen atoms played a crucial role in the augmentation of triple-phase boundaries. Pt/mPHCNFs exhibited superior electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction with a positively shifted onset potential (62 mV) and half-wave potential (86 mV) as well as a high limiting current density (4.76 mA/cm 2 ) compared to commercial electrocatalysts. The Pt/mPHCNFs catalyst exhibited excellent stability in acidic medium and showed only 23 mV loss in the half-wave potential; whereas, Pt/CNFs (35 mV) and Pt/C (77 mV) exhibited a much higher shift in half-wave potential. The PEMFC testing of the membrane electrode assembly based on Pt/ mPHCNFs (411 mW/cm 2 ) revealed a superior performance compared to Pt/CNFs (297.4 mW/cm 2 ) and Pt/C (212.8 mW/cm 2 ). This method can offer an effective strategy for the development of durable, low-cost, and high-performance PEMFCs.

Unraveling Hydrogen Adsorption Kinetics of Bimetallic Au–Pt Nanoisland-Functionalized Carbon Nanofibers for Room-Temperature Gas Sensor Applications

“…The XPS spectra of CNFs, CNFs@Pt NIs, and CNFs@Au–Pt NIs and high-resolution spectra of oxygen 1s (O 1s), nitrogen 1s (N 1s), carbon 1s (C 1s), gold 4f (Au 4f), and platinum 4f (Pt 4f) are shown in Figure . The survey scan spectra of the CNFs@Au–Pt NIs hybrids shown in Figure a display five prominent peaks at 532, 399, 284, 84, and 71 eV corresponding to O 1s, N 1s, C 1s, Au 4f, and Pt 4f, respectively, − which substantiate the presence of elements, such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, gold, and platinum. High resolution XPS spectra for the C 1s region around 285 eV (Figure b) was further deconvoluted into four overlapping peaks.…”

Electrospinning as a route to advanced carbon fibre materials for selected low-temperature electrochemical devices: A review

“…However, though oxide and nitride supports are demonstrated in the literature, the most researched support for Pt is carbon [156]. In the case of the electrospun carbon supports, there are many examples in the literature [162,[183][184][185]. A simple electrospinning, graphitisation, and deposition process was reported by Wang et al [162], supporting Pt on N-doped-C porous nanofibres.…”

Cathode Design for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells in Automotive Applications

“…The microstructure and composition of the CL have a great influence on its power performance [20,[23][24][25][26]. Therefore, many research efforts have been made to optimize the TPB properties within the CL, which can be divided into three strategies: (i) adopting highly active catalysts to promote the intrinsic ORR activity, (ii) introducing novel ionomers to enhance conductivity and (iii) improving catalyst/ionomer interface to extend TPB zones [27,28].…”