Abstract
Porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs) were prepared through electrospinning, pre-oxidation and carbonization with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as carbon precursor and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), CaCO3 as pore-forming agents. The structure, morphology, specific surface area and electrochemical performance of the carbon nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), N2 adsorption/desorption method and electrochemical tests. Compared with PCNFs without CaCO3, PCNFs(CaCO3 1%) had higher specific surface area, better dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, and the particle size become smaller, which was corresponding with the results of electrochemical performance test. It could be seen in cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) test, ECSA of Pt/PCNFs (CaCO3 1%) attained 82 m2?g?1, while that of JM20 and Pt/PCNFs without CaCO3 were 77 m2?g?1 and 60 m2?g?1, respectively. These results revealed that CaCO3 as the second pore-forming agent can further increase the mesoporous number and specific surface area of nanofibers, and can improve the electrochemical properties of Pt catalyst as the support.
Highlights
IntroductionNowadays with the shortage of energy resource and serious pollution of our environment, fuel cells with their advantage of being a clean and efficient energy
These results revealed that CaCO3 as the second pore-forming agent can further increase the mesoporous number and specific surface area of nanofibers, and can improve the electrochemical properties of Pt catalyst as the support
In order to further improve the specific surface area and increase the abundance of the pores on Porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs), this paper introduced CaCO3 as the second pore-forming agent into the PAN/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) system, and more pores were formed by CO2 derived from thermal decomposition of CaCO3
Summary
Nowadays with the shortage of energy resource and serious pollution of our environment, fuel cells with their advantage of being a clean and efficient energy. Álvarez et al [10] found that Pt/CNFs catalysts show a better performance when compared to Pt/Vulcan XC-72R catalyst in the same fuel cell environment, may result from the smaller number of micropores in carbon nanofibers increasing the use of the Pt catalyst. This indicated the possibility of improving the electrochemical performance of the catalyst by improving the feature of the pores in the carbon nanofibers as support. In order to further improve the specific surface area and increase the abundance of the pores on PCNFs, this paper introduced CaCO3 as the second pore-forming agent into the PAN/PMMA system, and more pores were formed by CO2 derived from thermal decomposition of CaCO3
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