Development Of Free-Metal Electrocatalyst From Inexpensive Sources Of Carbon: A Novel Electrode Material for Cathode Reaction in PEM Fuel Cells

摘要

Recently, free noble metal electrocatalysts have been obtained, which are capable of carrying out the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with comparable performance to Pt. These novel electrocatalysts are doped nanostructured carbon (ej. nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes N-NTC and nitrogen doped reduced graphene, N-rG). Nowadays, the synthesis of these nanostructured materials has several technological challenges, because it production is still expensive and has a significant environmental impact. In this work, we have obtained novel metal-free electrocatalysts from two different inexpensive carbon source: ⅰ) an organic waste and ⅱ) mineral coal from Sabinas region in Coahuila Mexico. These electrocatalysts have a significantly lower cost than conventional platinum-based electrocatalysts or than nanostructured carbon free-metal catalyst. The results show that these electrocatalysts are an inexpensive, environmental friendly and promising alternative for use as cathodes in PEMFC.