2006/01/01 by Liang Li, Yangchuan Xing · 5 citations
Chemistry · Energy · Engineering · #Advanced battery technologies research #Carbon black #Carbon fibers #Carbon nanotube #Catalysis #Chemical engineering #Chemistry #Composite material #Corrosion #Cyclic voltammetry #Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion #Electrochemistry #Electrode #Electrolyte #Fuel Cells and Related Materials #Inorganic chemistry #Materials science #Metallurgy #Nanotechnology #Organic chemistry #Oxide #Redox #Sulfuric acid
paper · doi:10.1149/1.2234659
openalex publication_date 2006/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Noncatalyzed and catalyzed electrochemical oxidations of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were studied with the aim to understand their durability as catalyst support in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Bare and Pt-deposited CNTs were investigated in sulfuric acid at a constant potential of . Carbon black (CB, Vulcan XC-72R) was also studied under the same experimental conditions. The carbons were oxidized at room temperature in the form of thin-film electrodes with time durations up to . Cyclic voltammetry was used to monitor the surface oxide redox reactions as a way to quantify the degree of surface oxidation on the carbons. It was found that the redox current peaks were stabilized after for CNTs, but they continue to increase for CB, showing that CNTs are more resistant to electrochemical oxidation. Similar trends were observed in the catalyzed oxidation with Pt-deposited carbons. However, much larger currents were observed, demonstrating that catalyzed oxidation had indeed occurred. The observed durability demonstrated that CNTs would be a better catalyst support in PEM fuel cells in which the commonly used CB often undergoes severe electrochemical corrosion.