2P-628 : The effect of graphene size in a catalyst support of oxygen reduction catalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Platinum has been used for the oxygen reduction catalyst of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) over a decade due to the high efficiency, however, the high price of Pt hinders an immediate application of PEMFC in the market. Generally, carbon black (CB) is used as support for PEMFC to reduce the contents of expensive Pt catalyst, however, the corrosion which easily occurs in the air atmosphere by reacting with oxygen leads to the decrease of catalyst durability. In this research, small reduced graphene oxide (srGO) platelets were synthesized as a catalyst support of Pt catalyst, and they were applied as oxygen reduction catalysts for PEMFC. The sonication process was used to reduce the size of rGO, which resulted in the increase of specific surface area. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activities of the prepared catalysts were measured with half-cell method in 0.5M H2SO4. Consequentially, the performance and stability of Pt/rGO were enhanced compared with Pt/CB in acidic medium