Heteroatom Doped Carbon Nanofibers Synthesized by Chemical Vapor Deposition as Platinum Electrocatalyst Supports for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells

Highlights: • Electrolessly-plated copper foams were synthesized for preparation of N, P and B doped CNFs. • Doped CNFs were hydrophilic and employed as supports to anchor Pt without any functionization. • Pt/CNF was highly active and stable for ORR and was resistant to corrosion. - Abstract: Aimed at improved durability and catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction, carbon nanofibers(CNFs) with nitrogen, phosphorus and boron dopants have been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition of acetylene on electrolessly-plated copper foams. The as-prepared CNFs were extensively characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman analysis. Without any functionalization, the as-prepared CNF was employed as support for 40 wt.% Pt electrocatalyst (Pt/CNF). In an accelerated stability test (AST), Pt/CNF displayed higher stability relative to the state-of-the-art electrocatalyst from Johnson Matthey (Pt/C-JM) with the same Pt loading. TEM images after AST for Pt/CNF were obtained and found that the doped carbon nanofiber support is more resistant to corrosion. At the meantime, the catalytic activity to oxygen reduction for Pt/CNF surpassed Pt/C-JM by more positive on-set potential. CNFs with N, P and B dopants synthesized in this work should have promised applications for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.