Novel synthesis and characterization of nanocomposite Pt-WO3-TiO2/C electrocatalyst for PEMFC

In this study, an effective preparation of Pt-WO3-TiO2/C electrocatalysts has been developed for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) application. The single cell performance of Vulcan XC-72R carbon-supported Pt-WO3-TiO2 electrocatalysts with various compositions (as weight percentage Pt-W-Ti 0:5:5, 2:4:4, 4:3:3, 6:2:2, and 8:1:1) as anode materials are investigated in PEMFC. These catalysts are compared with 10 % Pt/C on the same Vulcan XC-72R carbon support and 10 % Pt/C (commercial) electrocatalyst. The physical and morphological characterization of the optimized Pt-WO3-TiO2/C, 10 % Pt/C, and 10 % Pt/C (commercial) electrocatalysts are further investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), cyclic voltammetry, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Among all the molar ratio of the catalysts, the Pt-W-Ti (4:3:3) molar ratio catalyst exhibited the larger electrochemical active surface area. The electrochemical performance of Pt-WO3-TiO2/C (with a weight percentage of Pt-W-Ti 4:3:3) as anode material is better than those of other compositions of Pt-WO3-TiO2/C catalysts. The amount of platinum was also reduced from 1.76 to 0.704 mg cm−2 which exhibited higher performance in single cell tests. Platinum shows a smaller-sized crystalline structure in XRD and TEM analysis. High performance indicates that enhanced proton transport occurs through the use of this catalyst.