Preparation of catalyst for polymer electrolyte fuel cell using the Marimo-like carbon

We have applied the Marimo-like carbon as a catalyst support for the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) electrodes. The Marimo-like carbon is composed of carbon nanofilaments (CNFs) which are type of cup-stacked fibrous carbon material. The Pt catalyst was loaded onto the CNF support by the modified nanocolloidal solution technique without any acid and/or heat pretreatments. In order to obtain fin e and highly dispersed Pt particles on the CNFs surface, we have modified a conventional nanocolloidal solution method. Carbon materials should be added to the solution system before formation of the Pt nanocolloidal particles. We have investigated the influence of the concentrations of both the chloroplatinic acid and sodium borohydride solution on the formation of the Pt nanoparticles in this study. Pt nanoparticles deposited on the CNFs were observed by the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and the catalyst performance of the Pt nanoparticles on the CNFs were investigated by the cyclic voltammetry (CV). A lower chloroplatinic acid concentration and higher sodium borohydride concentration produced fine Pt particles with higher dispersion and better catalytic activity than other.