Assembly of nanomaterials and conductive biomolecules (Cb) in the preparation of high performance fuel cell electrodes

摘要

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), which converts chemical energy to electricity, are considered nowadays as promising candidates for mobile and portable applications because of their high energy-conversion efficiency and low pollution . Among the major barrier limiting their large-scale commercialization, one can cite the significant high cost of the noble metal Pt, which considered as one of the best known catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), and the Pt support degradation. Moreover, the performance of the membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) depends mostly on a balance between electronic and proton conductivity . This is the reason why PEMFC requires the optimization of the electrode structure along with the use of alternative catalyst supports able to bare the harsh condition occurring in a fuel cell. In this paper, we show that fuel cell electrodes can be prepared by layer-by-layer assembly of conducting biomolecules (Cb)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs)-Pt complexes. Hence in this work CNTs were decorated with Pt nanoparticles before being wrapped around with a biomolecule. After functionalization, the system was alternately deposited onto a Nafion membrane in order to get well structured multilayered electrodes (anode as well as cathode). The electrodes were tested in a fuel cell testing station and polarization curves were collected by using a fuelcon AG. The electrodes were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), and cyclic voltammetry (CV).