Surface science of electrode catalysts using carbon nanotube in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Abstract

Significant improvement of the Pt-electrode in polymer electrolyte fuel cells has been found by replacing the support material from carbon black to multi-walled carbon nanotube (CNT). In order to explore the origin for the better performance of the Pt/CNT catalysts, model studies using Pt nano-particles deposited on a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have been carried out as a surface science approach. It is suggested that monolayer of Pt nano-particles show a quite different electronic nature, leading to very high catalytic activity.