Ultrathin TiO2-coated MWCNTs with excellent conductivity and SMSI nature as Pt catalyst support for oxygen reduction reaction in PEMFCs

Nibret Gebeyehu Akalework; Chun-Jern Pan; Wei-Nien Su; John Rick; Mon-Che Tsai; Jyh-Fu Lee; Jhih-Min Lin; Li-Duan Tsai; Bing-Joe Hwang

doi:10.1039/C2JM34361D

Ultrathin TiO₂-coated MWCNTs with excellent conductivity and SMSI nature as Pt catalyst support for oxygen reduction reaction in PEMFCs†

Nibret Gebeyehu Akalework,‡^a Chun-Jern Pan,‡^a Wei-Nien Su,‡^a John Rick,‡^a Mon-Che Tsai,‡^a Jyh-Fu Lee,^b Jhih-Min Lin,^b Li-Duan Tsai^c and Bing-Joe Hwang ‡*^ab

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a NanoElectrochemistry Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan
E-mail: bjh@mail.ntust.edu.tw
Fax: +886-2-27376644

^b National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan

^c Department of Fuel Cell Materials and Advanced Capacitors, Division of Energy Storage Materials and Technology, Material and Chemical Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, Hsinchu, Taiwan

Abstract

The sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), the instability of platinum on the carbon support, and carbon corrosion are still critical issues affecting the activity and long-term durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. An ideal solution would be to modify the catalytic supports to enhance the durability and performance of supported catalysts. Here we have synthesized multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) supported ultrathin TiO₂ films (MWCNT@UT-TiO₂) using a simple modified sol–gel method. Our approach takes advantage of the strong metal support interactions (SMSIs) between the MWCNT@UT-TiO₂ support and platinum nanoparticles, which results in a decrease of the d-band vacancy of platinum due to electron transfer from the support, thereby enhancing the performance of the supported catalysts. Our results revealed that Pt–MWCNT@UT-TiO₂ has better catalytic activity and durability compared to Pt–MWCNT and Pt–C with equivalent Pt loadings.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C2JM34361D
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 04 Jul 2012
Accepted: 14 Aug 2012
First published: 14 Aug 2012

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J. Mater. Chem., 2012,22, 20977-20985

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Ultrathin TiO₂-coated MWCNTs with excellent conductivity and SMSI nature as Pt catalyst support for oxygen reduction reaction in PEMFCs

N. G. Akalework, C. Pan, W. Su, J. Rick, M. Tsai, J. Lee, J. Lin, L. Tsai and B. Hwang, J. Mater. Chem., 2012, 22, 20977 DOI: 10.1039/C2JM34361D

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