Simultaneous doping of boron and nitrogen into a carbon to enhance its oxygen reduction activity in proton exchange membrane fuel cells

摘要

For the practical uses of the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), the reduction of the platinum used as the cathode catalyst is an urgent issue 1. The development of non-platinum catalysts is one of the ways to deal with this problem; possible candidates for this are heat-treated N_4-complexes 2,3, ceramics, such as carbides 4, and palladium alloys 5, Our interest is to develop a cathode catalyst by tuning the carbons to have catalytic activity for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Recently, we reported the enhancement of oxygen reduction (ORR) activity of carbons, to which nitrogen atoms were doped, by carbonizing a furan resin mixed with phthalocy-anines (H_2PC, LiPc and MgPc) 6. In the present study, we report a preliminary result regarding the further enhancement of the ORR activity of carbon, by the simultaneous doping of boron and nitrogen to carbon.