Macroporous Structures of Nb-SnO Particles as a Catalyst Support Induce High Porosity and Performance in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Catalyst Layers.

Macroporous niobium-doped tin oxide (NTO) is introduced as a robust alternative to conventional carbon-based catalyst supports to improve the durability and performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Metal oxides like NTO are more stable than carbon under PEFC operational conditions, but they can compromise gas diffusion and water management because of their denser structures. To address this tradeoff, we synthesized macroporous NTO particles using a flame-assisted spray-drying technique employing poly(methyl methacrylate) as a templating agent.

Oxygen reduction activity of carbon-supported Pt-M (M = V, Ni, Cr, Co, and Fe) alloys prepared by nanocapsule method.

Monodispersed Pt and Pt-M (M = V, Cr, Fe, Co, and Ni) alloy nanoparticles supported on carbon black (denoted as Pt/CB and Pt-M/CB) were prepared by the simultaneous reduction of platinum acetylacetonate and the second metal acetylacetonate within nanocapsules formed in diphenyl ether in the presence of carbon black. For the Pt/CBs, the average Pt diameters measured by scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) or X-ray diffraction (XRD) ranged from 2.0 to 2.