Carbon aerogel possesses unique structural and electrical properties, such as high mesopore volume, specific surface area, and electrical conductivity, which make it suitable for use as catalyst support in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC). In this study, we present a novel synthesis of highly mesoporous carbon aerogel via ambient-drying and its application in PEMFCs. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption, Non-Localized Density Function Theory (NLDFT) analysis were carried out to observe the morphology and pore characteristics. We find that a resorcinol/catalyst ratio of 200 yields carbon aerogel with the highest mesopore ratio and volume. We also conducted Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) to observe the platinum distribution and utilization in the electrodes. We find that the carbon aerogel electrode has even platinum distribution and twice as much platinum utilization. Pt on carbon aerogel shows efficient activity in both oxygen reduction and hydrogen oxidation reactions compared to Pt on Vulcan XC-72,  increases up to 705% in specific power density. The enhanced performance of carbon aerogel is attributed to its high mesopore volume and low micropore volume. Accelerated stress tests show that carbon aerogel has excellent durability compared to Vulcan XC-72. Additionally, the cost to manufacture carbon aerogel is 35% cheaper than producing carbon black. Thus, the mesoporous carbon aerogel provides an efficient, lower-cost alternative to existing microporous carbon material as catalyst support in PEMFCs.

Highly mesoporous carbon aerogel as catalyst support in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting

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