Cathode Materials for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells based on Vertically Aligned Carbon Filaments

Abstract

Polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEMFC) suffer dramatic loss of an operating voltage due to a significant cathode overpotential calling for economically unviable noble metal catalyst loadings in the cathode active layers. Therefore significant effort is put into the investigation of the cathode oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the development of novel electrocatalytic materials. In this presentation we discuss catalytic materials based on platinum nanoparticles supported on vertically aligned carbon nanofilaments. They are intended to improve mass transport, Pt utilization and corrosion stability of the cathode. They are also of interest as a model system for shedding light on the kinetics and mechanisms of fuel cell reactions.