Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are one of the most promising clean energy technologies under development. The major advantages include electrical efficiencies of up to 60 %, high energy densities (relative to batteries), and low emissions. However, the main obstacles to a broad commercialization of PEMFC are largely related to the limitations of the catalyst, typically platinum (Pt). Because of the high cost and limited resources of Pt, efforts are needed to identify metal-free catalysts or efficient carbon supports for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. In the field of electrocatalysis, catalysts supported on high-surface area materials have been developed to increase their electrochemically active surface area. In addition, the performance of many electrocatalytical processes such as energy storage/-conversion, production of chemicals, biotechnological or environmental related applications depends on the structure and electronic conductivity of the used catalyst supports. The development of high effective catalyst supports could decrease the energy consumption of electrochemical processes and could lead to a reduction of greenhouse gases. Especially, hierarchical structured porous carbons with heteroatoms are proposed to increase the catalytic activity due to a high specific surface area and high electrical conductivity. Therefore, we suggest a very simple and cost effective way to produce conductive carbon supports coated with a nitrogen-containing carbon layer. The process works with the thermal decomposition of a suitable ionic liquid (IL) on the surface of different types of carbon materials (foam structures, graphene-like structures, CNTs, particles). The nitrogen content in the microporous coatings and therefore the electronic conductivity could be improved. In this work the preparation, characterization and also the fuel cell application of hierarchical structured carbon foams coated with a nitrogen-containing carbon layer are presented.
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