Investigation of the effects of supporting material modification on the nucleation behavior of Pt catalysts

The presence of stable support material allows catalysts to operate for longer periods under harsh conditions. Although carbon is widely preferred as a supporting material for platinum (Pt) catalysts, the oxidizing problem at high overpotentials causes the catalyst dissolution and reduces the surface area. However, different functional groups on the supporting material surface provide a more homogeneous and rapid reduction of metal cation. Therefore, the use of composites consisting of conductive polymers and carbon structures gains importance. In this study, carbon modification is performed by polyaniline- and 4-Fluoroaniline and synthesized samples are physically and electrochemically characterized. The actual catalytic performances of these catalysts are investigated in a single-cell fuel cell. Characterization studies showed Pt particles distributed more homogeneously on 4F-PANI-C and have smaller grain sizes. CV results support that Pt/4F-PANI-C has a relatively higher electrochemical active surface area. This situation remains valid after the ADT tests. Finally, the MEA performances show that both the power and current density of the Pt/4F-PANI-C catalyst are higher than the other samples.