Preparation of Bimodal Porous Carbon Supported PtRu Catalysts for Fuel Cells

Abstract

AbstractIn this work, we synthesised the bimodal porous carbon supported electro‐catalyst as a novel catalyst for fuel cells. For this purpose, the bimodal porous carbons with different pore sizes were prepared by imprinting method. Three kinds of bimodal porous carbons were fabricated by using the silica spheres with diameters of ca. 50, 100 and 300 nm and SBA‐15 particle having 200–250 nm diameter and 700–900 nm length as templates. The BET surface areas of the bimoal porous carbons were determined to be 235–294 m2 g–1, which are similar to that of Vulcan XC72. To evaluate the electro‐catalytic activity, the PtRu nanoparticles of ca. 1.9–2.6 nm were loaded on the bimodal porous carbon supports. The PtRu/C100, synthesised by using SBA‐15 and 100 nm silica sphere, had the higher electrochemical surface area (ECSA) and the lower on‐set potential and showed comparable performance with the commercial catalyst.