PNNL

Abstract

We report the facile synthesis of an extremely durable electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction with highly graphitized mesoporous carbon (GMPC) as support (Pt/GMPC). GMPC is prepared through graphitizing the self-assembled soft-template mesoporous carbon (MPC) under high temperature. Most of the mesoporous structures and the specific surface area of MPC are retained even after 2800 °C heat-treatment, and the graphitization degree is greatly improved. GMPC is then noncovalently functionalized with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDA) and then coated with Pt nanoparticles with ethylene glycol reduction method. Pt nanoparticles of ~3.0 nm in diameter are uniformly dispersed on GMPC. Pt/GMPC exhibits a higher activity towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) than Pt nanoparticles supported on Vulcan XC-72 carbon (Pt/XC-72). The durability of Pt/GMPC is improved by a factor of ~2 compared with Pt/XC-72. The enhanced activity and durability of Pt/GMPC are attributed to the graphitic structure of GMPC which makes GMPC more resistant to corrosion and the interaction between Pt nanoparticles and GMPC stronger. GMPC is promising as catalyst support. This provides a facile, eco-friendly promising strategy, avoiding the usually used chemical functionalization of carbon support with oxidizing strong acid, to synthesize electrocatalysts with high durability and activity for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. This strategy can be widely applied in synthesizing metal nanoparticles on hydrophobic support materials.