Preparation of Pt/ACNT and Pt/PANI-CNT catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells

• Main Authors: Guan-Ting Shen, 沈冠廷
• Other Authors: Hsiu-Li Lin
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/4wzew5

碩士 === 元智大學 === 化學工程與材料科學學系 === 107 === The thesis aim is to explore the influence of catalyst support on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). In the first part, we used acid-functionalized carbon nanotubes (i.e., ACNTs) and polyaniline (PANI) wrapped on the surfaces of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as support for depositing Pt nanoparticles. Pt on CNTs wrapped with PANI (i.e., Pt/PANI-CNTs) and Pt on ACNTs (i.e., Pt/ACNTs) are used as anode and cathode catalysts for Nafion based membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs), on which fuel cell tests are conducted at 70 ℃ with humidified H2/air. The results showed that the Pt/PANI-CNT catalyst has a higher electrochemical catalysts surface activity area (ECSA) and a better performance of PEMFC than Pt/ACNT catalyst. In the second part, we used PANI wrapped on the graphene (GNs) as support for depositing Pt nanoparticles. Moreover, three PANI-GN supports with different ratios of PANI to graphene (0.1:1, 0.2:1 and 0.4:1) were prepared. Fuel cell performances of the MEAs prepared from these Pt/PANI-GN catalysts are also evaluated at 70 ℃ with humidified H2/air. Among these catalysts, the Pt/PANI-graphene (0.2:1) catalyst has the smallest and uniform Pt particle size. As a result, Pt/PANI-Graphene (0.2:1) catalyst exhibited the best PEMFC performance among the catalysts. Among all the supports in this study, PANI-GN, ACNT, and PANI-CNT, we found that the Pt/PANI-CNT catalyst has the highest PEMFC performance. These results indicated that MWCNT is more suitable carbon support for Pt catalysts.