Mesoporous carbon nanoparticles: a super catalyst support for fuel cells

Abstract

Due to methanol being a cheap and widely available fuel, much effort has been devoted to the study of platinum-based catalysts for methanol oxidation. In addition to the development of efficient electro-catalysts, another approach to improve fuel cell performance is to develop alternative catalyst supports. Here, we report mesoporous carbon nanoparticles as a catalyst support which could greatly improve the catalytic activity of the catalyst for methanol oxidation, which can not only promote the formation of a larger electrochemically active surface area (801.038 m² g⁻¹) to afford more active sites for electrochemical reactions, but also facilitate effective electron transfer through the electrode surface. The mesoporous carbon nanoparticles were synthesized through a simple hydrothermal method using glucose as the precursor and modification with ionic liquids. The Pt nanoparticles deposited onto the resulting mesoporous carbon nanoparticles, as the catalyst, exhibited excellent electrochemical activity compared with commercial Pt/C catalyst and Pt nanoparticles.