TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrospun iron-polyaniline-polyacrylonitrile derived nanofibers as non-precious oxygen reduction reaction catalysts for PEM fuel cells
AU - Zamani, Pouyan
AU - Higgins, Drew
AU - Hassan, Fathy
AU - Jiang, Gaopeng
AU - Wu, Jason
AU - Abureden, Salah
AU - Chen, Zhongwei
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by the University of Waterloo and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. This research was conducted as part of the Catalysis Research for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (CaRPE FC) Network administered from Simon Fraser University and supported by Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) Grant No. APCPJ 417858 - 11 through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
PY - 2014/9/1
Y1 - 2014/9/1
N2 - Replacing high cost platinum (Pt) catalysts with alternative non-precious materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is highly desirable to reduce the cost of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. Transition metal-nitrogen-carbon complexes (M-N-C) prepared by high temperature heat treatment techniques are the most promising class of non-precious materials with respect to ORR activity and stability. In this work, one-dimensional nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning an iron-polyaniline/polyacrylonitrile (Fe-PANI-PAN) metal-polymer blend, followed by subsequent heat treatment. This represents the first time a blend of polymers (PANI-PAN) has been used to prepare M-N-C nanofiber catalysts via electrospinning. The addition of 10 wt. % PANI to the electrospinning mixture provides 100 and 70 mV improvements to the ORR onset potential and half-wave potential, respectively, rendering the most active non-precious ORR nanofiber catalysts prepared by electrospinning to date. The high activity is attributed to the porous structure of the nanofibers, combined with increased nitrogen contents provided by the PANI incorporation.
AB - Replacing high cost platinum (Pt) catalysts with alternative non-precious materials for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is highly desirable to reduce the cost of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) systems. Transition metal-nitrogen-carbon complexes (M-N-C) prepared by high temperature heat treatment techniques are the most promising class of non-precious materials with respect to ORR activity and stability. In this work, one-dimensional nanofibers are prepared by electrospinning an iron-polyaniline/polyacrylonitrile (Fe-PANI-PAN) metal-polymer blend, followed by subsequent heat treatment. This represents the first time a blend of polymers (PANI-PAN) has been used to prepare M-N-C nanofiber catalysts via electrospinning. The addition of 10 wt. % PANI to the electrospinning mixture provides 100 and 70 mV improvements to the ORR onset potential and half-wave potential, respectively, rendering the most active non-precious ORR nanofiber catalysts prepared by electrospinning to date. The high activity is attributed to the porous structure of the nanofibers, combined with increased nitrogen contents provided by the PANI incorporation.
KW - Electrospun nanofiber
KW - Iron-polyaniline-polyacrylonitrile blend
KW - Non-precious catalyst
KW - Oxygen Reduction Reaction
KW - PEM fuel cell
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U2 - 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.07.007
DO - 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.07.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84905002577
SN - 0013-4686
VL - 139
SP - 111
EP - 116
JO - Electrochimica Acta
JF - Electrochimica Acta
ER -