II International Symposium on Carbon for Catalysis ABSTRACTS

KL-5
NANOSTRUCTURED CARBONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVANCED
ELECTROCATALYSTS
Perathoner S., Gangeri M., Centi G.
Department of Industrial Chemistry and Engineering of Materials, UdR-Messina of INSTM,
University of Messina, Salita Sperone 31, 98166 Messina, Italy
e-mail: perathon@unime.it
Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), due to the low weight, fast start-up and
high power density to volume ratio, are receiving large attention in recent years especially for
distributed applications, but their commercialization requires further improving of their
efficiency and energy density. PEMFC are typically prepared by supporting the catalyst (Pt)
in the form of small particles on carbon-black and then depositing this electrocatalyst over a
macro-structured support (carbon cloths) which is then hot-assembled with the protonexchange
membrane (such as Nafion ® ) eventually by adding also a porous hydrophobic layer
(such as Teflon ® ). While it is known that all these components determine the fuel cell
performances, the specific role of the nanostructure of the carbon was less investigated. The
requirements of carbon materials for their application as a support for Pt-based
electrocatalysts are the following: a high surface area for a high dispersion of the nanosized
catalyst, excellent crystallinity or low electrical resistance to facilitate electron transport
during the electrochemical reaction, a pore structure suitable for maximum fuel contact and
byproduct release, and good interaction between the catalyst nanoparticles and the carbon
support.
The recent growing possibilities for preparation also in large quantities and low cost of a
number of different types of nanostructured carbon (carbon nanotubes, nanofibers, nano- and
meso-porous materials, nanocoil and nanohorns, etc.) has open new possibilities. There is a
growing research interest on the subject: NEC has recently developed a tiny fuel cell for
mobile terminals claiming that the use of "carbon nanohorn" as support allows an
improvement of one order of magnitude in the energy capacity compared with a lithium
battery.
Still, most of authors consider the use of these advanced nanostructured carbons with
respect to conventional carbon-black (Vulcan XC-72, for example) only for the possibility of
improving metal dispersion and/or for the improvement of Pt utilization. However, these
28