Electrochemical Activity and Durability of Platinum Catalysts Supported on Nanometer-Size Titanium Nitride Particles for Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells

We synthesized a Pt catalyst supported on nanometer-size titanium nitride particles (Pt/TiN) by the nanocapsule method. The titanium nitride (TiN) support, which was synthesized by the radio-frequency (RF) plasma method, had high electrical conductivity, up to 850 S cm(-1) at room temperature, with a surface area of 40 m(2) g(-1). The Pt loading on the catalyst was 19.5 wt%. The electrochemically active surface area (ECA) was 72 m(2) g(p)(-1). During the potential step cycling test (0.9 similar to 4.3 V), the ECA values for Pt/TiN remained high and exceeded that of a commercial Pt catalyst supported on carbon black (Pt/CB) for potential step cycle numbers above 300. From the results of linear sweep voltammetry using a rotating disk electrode, we observed that the oxygen reduction reaction activity of the Pt/TiN exceeded that of Pt/CB. We conclude that the nanometer-size TiN might be a good candidate support material for the cathode of the polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC).