Electrochemical Synthesis of Oxygen Reduction Catalysts based on Pt Coated Polypyrrole Nanowires using Starch as Template Molecule

摘要

This study demonstrates a new method for the development of low loading Pt catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) based on the electrochemical synthesis of Pt coated polypyrrole (PPY) nanowires. PPY was deposited on different electrodes such as graphite, carbon paper gas diffusion layer (GDL), and glassy carbon by using chemical template molecules such as heparin and starch. Pt coated PPY/starch nanowires show ORR catalytic activity after the electrochemical degradation of PPY, which suggests that PPY/starch nanowires can be electrochemically converted to a stable high surface area support for ORR catalysts. Moreover, these low loading ORR Pt catalysts can be easily incorporated in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) structure as a gas diffusion electrode (GDE) when directly prepared on a GDL.