Synthesis of Graphitic Mesoporous Carbon from Metal Impregnated Silica Template for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Application

High surface area graphitic mesoporous carbons (M-mGMC; M=Ni, Fe, Co or Ni-Fe) were synthesized via catalytic graphitization using a hard template based synthesis method. In house prepared SBA-15 silica material was impregnated with metal precursors to obtain M/SBA-15, template for M-mGMC synthesis. These materials were studied using different material characterization techniques, such as nitrogen adsorption desorption (BET), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Specific surface area ranging from 1,227.9 m 2 g −1 to 1,320.7 m 2 g −1 was observed for four M-mGMCs. Raman spectroscopy, XPS and wide angle XRD suggested presence of graphitic structure in these materials along with disorders. Electrocatalytic performance of these materials along with conventional carbon black (Vulcan XC-72) were evaluated in a single-stack proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). Pt/NiFe-mGMC exhibited enhanced electrocatalytic activity compared to Pt/Ni-mGMC, Pt/Fe-mGMC and Pt/Co-mGMC electrocatalysts. However, Pt/NiFe-mGMC lacked adequate proton transport in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) compared to Pt/Vulcan XC-72. This exploratory study showed that NiFe-mGMC may find application as electrocatalyst support material in PEMFC.