A wet-chemistry emulsion method was used to produce nanoparticles (NPs) to improve the electrochemistry of fuel cells. The ultrafine platinum NPs were formed using this feasible method. The partical size was determined to be 1.76 ± 0.26 nm, which uniformly dispersed on the surface of graphene oxide (GO) sheets. The result of ultraviolet spectroscopy indicates that a mediator iron (II) phthalocyanine (FePc) can assist to maintain the 2D GO morphology, further increase the triple phase boudary of the catalyst. These nanostructured catalysts demenstrated enhanced mass activities of 281.29 mA mg<sub>Pt</sub><sup>-1</sup> at 0.86 V when tested in an aquesou solution (0.1M KOH). Compared with the commercial Pt/C catalysts, the oxygen reduction current density of the above catalysts showed about 3 times higher electrochemcial activity under the same operating conditions. The average Pt loading was found to be about one-third of the commercial catalyst (Pt/C). This study indicated that the 2D carbon supported Pt catalyst showed high reactivity with lowered loading.

Carbon supported nanoparticles used to improve fuel cells performance

256th National Meeting (2018)

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