A Class of High Performance Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Fuel Cells, using Iodine Doped Graphene

Abstract Low cost, sustainable and high performance electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) which can replace/reduce rare metals base catalysts are highly desirable for the effective commercial development of fuel cells. In this paper, we report a class of low cost electrocatalyst with highly performance for ORR, obtained by graphene doping with iodine precursor. It can be one of the most promising alternatives to Pt-based catalysts to date. Iodine doped graphene based materials were prepared by nucleophilic substitution and characterized by different techniques, including Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM, wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence WDXRF, that revealed the structure and morphology. The iodinated graphene was sprayed on gas diffusion layer (GDL) and tested in a single cell PEMFC. The electrochemical performances of fuel cell with/without iodinated graphene under typical experimental conditions were evaluated, namely current-voltage polarization and cyclic voltammetry curves, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).