title: Pt-free carbon-based fuel cell catalyst prepared from spherical polyimide for enhanced oxygen diffusion.
abstract: The development of a non-precious metal (NPM) fuel cell catalyst is extremely important to achieve globalization of polymer electrolyte fuel cells due to the cost and scarcity of platinum. Here, we report on a NPM cathode catalyst prepared by the pyrolysis of spherical polyimide nanoparticles that contain small amounts of Fe additive. 60 nm diameter Fe-containing polyimide nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by the precipitation polymerization of pyromellitic acid dianhydride and 1,3,5-tris(4-aminophenyl)benzene with Fe(acac)3 (acac = acetylacetonate) as an additive. The particles were subsequently carbonized by multistep pyrolysis to obtain the NPM catalyst while retaining the small particle size. The catalyst has good performance and promising durability for fuel cell applications. The fuel cell performance under a 0.2 MPa air atmosphere at 80 °C of 1.0 A cm(-2) at 0.46 V is especially remarkable and better than that previously reported.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 S8-26 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nabae
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 S8-26 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic and Polymeric Materials, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 S8-26 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8552, Japan.
authors.forename: Teruaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hayakawa
authors.affiliation: Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideharu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niwa
authors.affiliation: Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8581, Japan.|Synchrotron Radiation Research Organization, The University of Tokyo, SPring-8, 1-1-1, Koto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.affiliation: Synchrotron Radiation Research Organization, The University of Tokyo, SPring-8, 1-1-1, Koto, Sayo-cho, Sayo-gun, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.affiliation: Toshiba Fuel Cell Power Systems Corporation, 4-1 Ukishima-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0862 Japan.
authors.forename: Ayano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Isoda
authors.affiliation: Toshiba Fuel Cell Power Systems Corporation, 4-1 Ukishima-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0862 Japan.
authors.forename: Atsushi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsunaga
authors.affiliation: Toshiba Fuel Cell Power Systems Corporation, 4-1 Ukishima-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0862 Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Toshiba Fuel Cell Power Systems Corporation, 4-1 Ukishima-cho, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 210-0862 Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aoki