A novel nanocomposite catalytic cathode for direct methanol fuel cells

作者：Liu, Yan; Zheng, Ning; Chao, Wei; Liu, Hongquan; Wang, Yuan^*

来源：Electrochimica Acta, 2010, 55(20): 5617-5623.

DOI：10.1016/j.electacta.2010.04.092

• Catalytic cathode
• DMFC
• Iron phthalocyanine
• Oxygen reduction reaction
• Methanol tolerance

We report a new nanocomposite catalytic cathode composed of iron phthalocyanine, platinum, carbon black and Nafion(R) (FePc-Pt/C-Nafion(R)) which exhibited enhanced catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in the presence of methanol compared with usual Pt/C based electrodes. The catalytic cathode was prepared by depositing Pt colloidal nanoparticles (d(av) = 2.2 nm) on a FePc/C support to form a FePc-Pt/C powder and ultrasonically treating a mixture of Nafion(R) and the FePc-Pt/C powder in ethanol, followed by loading the mixture on a glassy carbon electrode and drying at 120 degrees C. In an O-2-saturated H2SO4 solution (0.5 M) with methanol (0.5 M), the onset potential (0.92 V vs RHE) over the FePc-Pt/C-Nafion(R) electrode shifted by more than 240 mV toward positive relative to that over an electrode prepared with a commercial Pt/C catalyst and Nafion(R). A new kind of catalytic sites constructed by FePc nanocrystals and Pt nanoparticles was found in the FePc-Pt/C-Nafion(R) electrode for the first time, which exhibited higher specific activity for ORR than Pt as calculated based on the hydrogen desorption charge.

• 出版日期2010-8-1
• 单位北京大学