Yu, Haitao
(2015).
Carbon black and graphene supported Pt catalysts for IT-PEFCs.
University of Birmingham.
M.Res.
Abstract
A Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell (PEFC) is an electrochemical cell which can transfer chemical energy of hydrogen fuel into electrical energy directly, with high efficiency and little environmental impact. This study focused on the utilization of different catalyst support materials and the fabrication process of catalysts, in order to reduce the platinum amount used in electrodes and get better electrochemical performance. We have tested and analyzed a variety of support materials; the optimization of MWAPP with respect to pH value, heating power, reaction duration and other aspects; heat treatment at different temperatures to the catalyst; the design, optimization and selection of the best carbon content among the Pt-RGO-C catalysts. The composition and structure of the catalysts we synthesized were characterized via TGA, XPS, FT-IR, SEM and TEM. Finally electrochemical characterizations were carried out using ex-situ and in-situ systems.
The largest ex-situ ECSAs of the Pt/C catalyst and Pt/RGO catalyst were ca. 80 m2g-1 and ca. 45 m2g-1 respectively. The optional MWAPP reaction time was 50s and the most suitable temperature of heat treatment was predicted to be about 140 oC. As to the promising Pt-RGO-C catalysts made in-house, the Pt-60%RGO-40%C catalyst had an ex-situ ECSA at ca. 65 m2g-1, in-situ ECSA at ca. 90 m2g-1. At 80 and 120 oC, it showed much higher current density (1100 and 930 mA/cm2, respectively) at 0.6 V than the commercial GDE (JM0165) and TKK in the polarization curve.
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