Highly platinum-loaded Magnéli phase titanium oxides as a high voltage tolerant electrocatalyst for polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Magnéli phase titanium oxides (MPTOs), possess high electrical conductivity and chemical stability, are promising support materials for the development of novel electrocatalyst in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). Despite MPTO's extremely low specific surface area (1 m2/g or less), high Pt loading (40 wt%) and excellent Pt particle-size distribution were obtained by the modified borohydride method. The reasons were discussed and compared with polyol method. Membrane electrode assembly (MEA) performance of those Pt/MPTO catalysts were found to be 169.7 and 366.2 mA/cm2 at 0.7 V for H2/air and H2/O2, respectively. The accelerated stress tests (ASTs) showed superior durability of the Pt/MPTO catalyst as a cathode electrode. After 10,000 cycles of high-voltage cycling test from 0.9 V and 1.3 V RHE, no significant performance degradation of the Pt/MPTO electrode was observed comparing with Pt/C. Thus, MPTOs can be considered as a good substitute of carbon supports in fuel cells.