A highly durable fuel cell electrocatalyst based on polybenzimidazole-coated stacked graphene

Abstract

We describe here the finding that, with the aid of poly(benzimidazole) (PBI), soluble graphene was obtained in solution by the exfoliation of graphite without introducing oxidative sites on graphene, and the homogeneous loading of Pt-nanoparticles onto the PBI-covered non-oxidized graphene was successful. The prepared electrocatalyst showed very high electrochemical durability; namely, the electrochemical surface area of the catalyst was not much different even after 2000-cyclic voltammogram (CV) cyclings, which is because there was no formation of Pt aggregates after CV cyclings. The durability of the synthesized fuel cell catalyst was much higher than that of the conventional Pt-loaded carbon black catalyst. The design of such high performance graphene-based fuel cell electrocatalysts is important for the development of next-generation polymer electrolyte fuel cells.