Effects of carbon supports on Pt distribution, ionomer coverage and cathode performance for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Abstract

We investigate the effects of the carbon supports on the Pt distribution, ionomer coverage and cathode performance of carbon-supported Pt catalysts, by using STEM observation, N2 adsorption analysis and electrochemical characterization. According to the STEM observation, the effective Pt surface area (S(e)Pt), which is determined by the location and size of the Pt particles on the supports, increases in the following order: c-Pt/CB < c-Pt/GCB < n-Pt/AB800 < n-Pt/AB250. The N2 adsorption analyses show that the Pt particles observed in the interior of the CB and AB800-supported Pt catalysts during the STEM observation could be ascribed to the hollow structures inside the carbon supports, which decrease their effective Pt surface areas. The S(e)Pt values are in good agreement with the cell performance in the high current density region. In spite of the highest Pt utilization (UPt) value (>90%) and uniform ionomer coverage, the c-Pt/CB catalyst shows the lowest cell performance due to the lower S(e)Pt value. On the other hand, the n-Pt/AB250 catalyst, for which all of the Pt particles exist only on the exterior surface, is found to be the most attractive in order to generate the large current densities required by actual fuel cell operation.