Ordered Porous TiO2@C Layer as an Electrocatalyst Support for Improved Stability in PEMFCs

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are the most promising clean energy source in the 21st century. In order to achieve a high power density, electrocatalytic performance, and electrochemical stability, an ordered array structure membrane electrode is highly desired. In this paper, a new porous Pt-TiO2@C ordered integrated electrode was prepared and applied to the cathode of a PEMFC. The utilization of the TiO2@C support can significantly decrease the loss of catalyst caused by the oxidation of the carbon from the conventional carbon layer due to the strong interaction of TiO2 and C. Furthermore, the thin carbon layer coated on TiO2 provides the rich active sites for the Pt growth, and the ordered support and catalyst structure reduces the mass transport resistance and improves the stability of the electrode. Due to its unique structural characteristics, the ordered porous Pt-TiO2@C array structure shows an excellent catalytic activity and improved Pt utilization. In addition, the as-developed porous ordered structure exhibits superior stability after 3000 cycles of accelerated durability test, which reveals an electrochemical surface area decay of less than 30%, considerably lower than that (i.e., 80%) observed for the commercial Pt/C.

Stainless Steel-Supported Amorphous Nickel Phosphide/Nickel as an Electrocatalyst for Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…It can be deduced that the finer grain size as well as the porous structure not only ensured that the Ni-P was well-distributed, but also provided sufficient mass transport on the subsurface. In the literature, porous nanostructures facilitate fast mass transport and enhanced cycling stability, which have been frequently reported for diverse catalysis and electrochemical energy-related applications [51][52][53][54][55][56][57]. As mentioned above, the pH of the plating solution could significantly affect the grain size, pore size and distribution, the average height and roughness of the cell-like grain surface, and finally results in difference in the electrochemical active surface area (ECSA).…”

“…It can be deduced that the finer grain size as well as the porous structure not only ensured that the Ni-P was well-distributed, but also provided sufficient mass transport on the subsurface. In the literature, porous nanostructures facilitate fast mass transport and enhanced cycling stability, which have been frequently reported for diverse catalysis and electrochemical energy-related applications [51][52][53][54][55][56][57].…”

Robust Porous TiN Layer for Improved Oxygen Evolution Reaction Performance

“…All electrochemical tests were performed at room temperature. All potentials in this paper were converted to reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) reference potential according to literature [ 22 ]. For the commercial IrO 2 powder, the catalyst ink was prepared by ultrasonic treatment of the mixture of the electrocatalyst (1 mg), ethanol (5 mL) and Nafion (5 wt%, 50 μL) in an ice bath for 2 h. The working electrode (IrO 2 loading was about 0.2 mg/cm 2 ) was made by casting uniformly dispersed catalyst ink onto a glassy carbon electrode (area 0.283 cm 2 ) and being dried in air.…”

“…Recently, researchers have devoted time to developing porous matrix materials with high exposure of a large active surface area, a high electronic conductivity, and a good corrosion resistance, which are favorable for the OER. Various nanostructured supports, such as ordered porous layer [ 22 ] array [ 23 , 24 ], cross-linked nanowires [ 25 ], etc. have been established on carbon paper (CP), carbon cloth (CC), Ti felt, etc., and the as-obtained supports were then used to load the active phase as the integrated porous electrode [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Improved performance of self-reactivated Pt–ThO2/C catalysts in a direct ethanol fuel cell

“…14 Numerous fundamental studies have been reported that Ptbased catalyst shows the most excellent performance in acidic DEFCs 15 and Naon membranes, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) are commonly applied. [16][17][18][19] What's more, the design of multimodal porous carbon for the interfacial microporous layer has also been studied to improve the performance of electrocatalyst. 20,21 The development of electrocatalysts plays a crucial role in improving the performance of fuel cells.…”