Abstract
Pt electrocatalysts supported on pristine graphene nanosheets (GNS) and nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets (N-GNP) were prepared through the ethylene glycol process, and a comparison of their CO tolerance and stability as anode materials in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) with those of the conventional carbon (C)-supported Pt was made. Repetitive potential cycling in a half cell showed that Pt/GNS catalysts have the highest stability, in terms of the highest sintering resistance (lowest particle growth) and the lowest electrochemically active surface area loss. By tests in PEMFCs, the Pt/N-GNP catalyst showed the highest CO tolerance, while the poisoning resistance of Pt/GNS was lower than that of Pt/C. The higher CO tolerance of Pt/N-GNP than that of Pt/GNS was ascribed to the presence of a defect in graphene, generated by N-doping, decreasing CO adsorption energy.
Highlights
Pt/C is widely used as an anode material in H2 -fueled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)
The EDX composition of the Pt/graphene nanosheets (GNS), Pt/nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets (N-GNP), and Pt/C electrocatalysts is shown in Table 1: the metal content of all the catalysts was in a very good agreement with the nominal composition (20 wt % Pt)
Of the Pt/GNS, Pt/N-GNP, and Pt/C electrocatalysts is shown in Table 1: Table
Summary
Pt/C is widely used as an anode material in H2 -fueled polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). A major hindrance regarding the utilization of carbon-supported platinum is the poor resistance of carbon surface to be oxidized, resulting in Pt surface area loss, owing to both Pt coalescence and Pt way out from the carbon support [6,7,8]. Carbon black has no effect on CO tolerance of Pt. materials other than carbon black that improve CO tolerance of Pt and with higher structural stability and higher resistance to carbon surface oxidation were investigated as Pt supports [9,10,11,12]. Tests in fuel cells indicated that graphene nanosheets (GNS) are a suitable PEMFC catalyst support [12]. Nitrogen-doped graphene proved promising for their use in PEMFCs [13,14]
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