Synthesis–structure–performance correlation for poly-aniline–Me–C non-precious metal cathode based on mesoporous carbon catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in low temperature fuel cells

Abstract

In this work, attempt is made to development of active non-precious metal catalysts (NPMCs) for the oxygen reduction reaction in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) based on the heat treatment of poly-aniline/transition metal/carbon precursors. All the materials have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) small and wide angle, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS). Moreover for electrochemical evaluation of samples, Rotating Disk electrode (RDE) technique and Fuel Cell test were employed. The results showed that onset potential for the optimized sample is about 0.1 v less than the commercial catalyst whereas exchange current density of the optimized sample (at 0.2 V vs. Reversible Hydrogen Electrode (RHE)) is about 15 mA cm−2 more than platinum electro-catalyst. Finally, the polarization curves for the fabricated membrane electrode assembly (MEAs) with overall catalyst loading of 2 mg cm−2 demonstrated that the optimized catalyst shows suitable performance compared with E-tek commercial platinum sample.