Publication: Polyamide aerogel-derived n-doped carbon aerogel decorated with platinum nanoparticles as highly active and stable electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction
Program
KU-Authors
KU Authors
Co-Authors
Raptapoulos, Grigorios
Rommel, Sarshad
Aindow, Mark
Paraskevopoulou, Patrina
Advisor
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Language
English
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Volume Title
Abstract
We prepared polyamide aerogel (PA)-derived carbon aerogel (CA) supported Pt nanoparticles with the super-critical CO2 deposition (SCD) technique as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). PAs were pyrolyzed at 800 degrees C to yield CPA and some CPA monoliths were subsequently etched with CO2 at 1000 degrees C to yield etched CPA (ECPA) to increase micro-mesoporosity and surface area in order to investigate their effect on the Pt nanoparticle dispersion and electrocatalytic performance towards ORR. The N-rich backbone of PAs yielded homogenously distributed N atoms in the CA structure enabling homogenous distribution of Pt nano-particles, efficient dispersion of the Nafion ionomer and possible creation of ORR-active sites. Highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles with average size of 1.5 and 3.0 nm were obtained on CPA and ECPA, respectively. Pt-ECPA electrocatalysts showed enhanced electrochemically active surface area (ESA) and ORR mass activity when compared with commercial Pt-C. Pt-CPA showed similar ESA, mass and specific activity to that of commercial Pt-C due to lower mesopore volume and higher average Pt nanoparticle size. Accelerated stability tests (AST) revealed superior stability of Pt-CPA electrocatalyst due to favorable initial Pt nanoparticle size enabling suc-cessful immobilization Pt nanoparticles on CPA through the N-functionalities. Two important parameters, pore structure of carbon aerogel and initial Pt nanoparticle size, can be controlled through the powerful combination of sol-gel and supercritical deposition techniques to achieve both highly active and stable electerocatalysts.
Description
Source:
Electrochimica Acta
Publisher:
Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd
Keywords:
Subject
Electrochemistry