Enhanced oxygen reduction and fuel cell performance and durability of ultra-low loading Pt-supported high surface area titanium nitro-carbide

Corrosion resistance, porous structure and high surface area are becoming more and more significant as electrode properties in long-term operation of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell. In this work, high surface area, porous titanium-based ceramic compound was synthesized via the facile modified urea glass method (mUGM) and utilized as electrocatalyst support for oxygen resection reaction (ORR) in fuel cells cathodes. The as-prepared compound was found to have surface area and crystallite sizes of the scale of carbon black (CB) with strong dependency on the Ti precursor to urea molar ratio. N–C bonds were found to be involved, as suggested from the X-ray photoelectron spectra, and little to-no residual bulk carbon was found in the samples (X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy). After deposition of Pt metal catalyst, the ceramic-based system demonstrated superior ORR activity and fuel cell performance, alongside superior durability when compared with commonly used commercial Pt/C catalyst, despite the ultra-low loading of deposited Pt (45 μg/cm2). Among all the ceramic-based samples studied in this work, the one synthesized in ratio of 1:10 (Ti:urea) showed the highest overall performance in fuel cell configuration. [Display omitted] •High surface area TiNC was synthesized via modified urea glass method.•TiNC catalyzes ORR activity in alkaline media without Pt.•Pt/TiNC shows enhanced mass activity and durability when compared with Pt/C.•High performance was demonstrated in PEMFC with low Pt loading on TiNC.