Effect of different carbon supports on the electrochemical behavior of Low Temperature Polymeric Fuel Cells (PEMFCs)

In the work presented here، attempt is made to study the effect of different carbon supports on the electrochemical behavior of Pt/Carbon supports. In this respect، the carbon mesoporous samples (CMK-3) prepared by hard templating method were functionalized with Nickel oxide، Carbon nanotube and Platinum. Then all the materials have been characterized by XRD (Low&high)، N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms، transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high-resolution field emission scanning electron (FESEM). The results showed the mesostructural structure has been destroyed by functionalization of CMK3 with NiO and CNT. Furthermore، The WAXRD patterns revealed the formation of smaller Pt crystallites in relative to Vulcan supports. Finally، obtaining the polarization curves for the fabricated MEAs with Pt loading of 0. 5 mg cm-2 demonstrated that the CMK3-CNT-20Pt catalyst shows a considerably better performance than the other samples.