Platinum and Ruthenium nanoparticles decorated multi walled carbon nanotubes as electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Multi wall carbon nanotubes were decorated with Platinum (MWCN-Pt) and Ruthenium (MWCN-Ru) nanoparticles. These catalytic metal nanoparticles were grown directly on oxidized surface of carbon nanotubes by reduction of metal precursors. Pt- and Ru-nanoparticles decorated MWCN were used to fabricate the electrodes for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) using Nafion as proton transporting membrane. The fabricated Membrane-Electrode-Assembly (MEA) has been tested for its performance with humidified H-2 and O-2 as input fuels at room temperature. Active area of the MEAs fabricated is kept constant at 6.25 cm(2). Maximum power obtained from PEMFC using MWCN-Pt based electrodes (both anode and cathode) was about 340 mW while the maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) obtained was 0.87 V. PEMFC made using a mixture of MWCN-Pt and MWCN-Ru as electrodes yield maximum power of 225 mW. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.