Accessible mesoporous carbon aerogel preparation and its application as ultra-low pt support for oxygen reduction reaction with high catalytic activity

Journal of Porous Materials (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Carbon supported Pt and its alloys (Pt/C) are the most practical catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). To further reduce scare Pt content in the Pt/C is of great importance for its widely application. Carbon substrate plays a critical role in decreasing Pt proportion. In this research, accessible pores carbon aerogel is prepared to be support for Pt nanoparticles by sol–gel method. A mild reduction agent H2 is choose to produce ultra-small Pt nanoparticles with only 1.5 nm diameter. The carbon aerogel could lower Pt to be ultra-low content of 4.2% mass percentage. Ultra-small Pt nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed on the carbon aerogel, which is significant for improving Pt utilization and catalytic performance. The Pt/carbon aerogel, is of high ORR catalytic activity with electrochemical surface area 188 m2 g−1 Pt, mass activity 107 mA mg−1Pt and low Tafel slope 47.87 mV dec−1, which could be ascribed to carbon aerogel support with high mesoporous surface area of 500 m2/g. Pt/carbon aerogel were comprehensively studied by N2 adsorption/desorption, SEM, TEM, XPS and XRD to reveal relations between properties and structures. Based on the research results, the Pt/carbon aerogel is a kind of promising low Pt catalyst for ORR.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51302317 and 51702360) and Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2018JJ2469).

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  1. Science and Technology on Advanced Ceramic Fibers and Composites Laboratory, College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, 109 De Ya Rd, Changsha, Hunan, 410073, People’s Republic of China

    Yi Luo, Junzong Feng, Yonggang Jiang, Liangjun Li & Jian Feng

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  1. Yi Luo
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  2. Junzong Feng
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Luo, Y., Feng, J., Jiang, Y. et al. Accessible mesoporous carbon aerogel preparation and its application as ultra-low pt support for oxygen reduction reaction with high catalytic activity. J Porous Mater (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10934-020-01010-y

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Keywords

  • Carbon aerogel
  • Accessible mesoporous pores
  • Pt support
  • Oxygen reduction reaction
  • Pemfcs