Chinese Journal of Catalysis

Chinese Journal of Catalysis ›› 2006, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (8): 708-712.

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Synthesis and Characterization of Carbon Nanoribbons as Electrocatalyst Supports for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

QI Jing1,2, GAO Ying2, TANG Shuihua1, JIANG Luhua1, YAN Shiyou1, GUO Junsong1, XIN Qin1,3, SUN Gongquan1*   

  1. 1 Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China; 2 Department of Chemistry, Harbin Normal University, Harbin 150080, Heilongjiang, China; 3 State Key Laboratory of Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian 116023, Liaoning, China
  • Received:2006-08-25 Online:2006-08-25 Published:2010-09-28

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Abstract: Carbon nanoribbons (CNRs) were synthesized using the resorcinol-formaldehyde gel as a precursor and were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. CNRs are highly graphitized and the width of the ribbon is 8-20 nm. The BET surface area of CNRs is 283 m2/g, and the nitrogen isotherm for the CNRs with an average pore size of 8.2 nm is classified as type-Ⅳ. A platinum-based binary electrocatalyst, PtRu/CNRs, using CNRs as the support and having a metal loading of 45% was prepared using a modified polyol process. The performance of the single cell using PtRu/CNRs as the anode electrocatalyst is significantly improved when compared with that using Vulcan XC-72R as the support, indicating that CNRs are promising electrocatalyst supports for direct methanol fuel cells.

Key words: electrocatalyst, support, carbon nanoribbon, direct methanol fuel cell