Melamine derived N-doped Carbon nanotubes: A durable catalyst support for Pt nanoparticles in proton exchange membrane fuel cell

A cost-effective thermal pyrolysis route was adopted to synthesize N-doped carbon nanotube (NCNT) in a single step with the aid of melamine (carbon and nitrogen source) and cobalt catalyzed growth for the formation of N-doped carbon nanotubes. The NCNT was acid treated (fNCNT) to remove the metallic Co from the CNT which was elucidated using X-ray diffraction. Even though these noble metal-free materials are explored as Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, for it to be employed in actual fuel cell the cathode requires noble metals such as Platinum (Pt) nanoparticles to improve its sluggish kinetics. Thus, this study is mainly focused on employing fNCNT as catalyst support in PEMFC, wherein the electrocatalyst was synthesized using microwave-assisted polyol method to decorate Pt nanoparticles on fNCNT, demonstrating its excellent durability of 32% electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) loss when subjected to standard protocols, and full cell performance of hybrid ((Pt/fNCNT) + CB) 412 mW cm⁻² (better than commercial Pt/C) when deployed as electrocatalyst for ORR in Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell, thus our findings open new avenues to explore, design and develop N-doped carbon nanotubes as durable catalyst for fuel cells.