Nitrogen-containing graphitized carbon support for methanol oxidation Pt catalyst

Graphitized carbon (GrC) with a relatively uniform pore size was synthesized using polyvinylpyrrolidone as a nitrogen-containing carbon source. Ni was employed as both a graphitization catalyst and a pore structure template. The polyol method was applied to load Pt nanoparticles with a narrow distribution of sizes on the synthesized GrC. The Pt catalyst supported on GrC showed higher electrocatalytic activity than that supported on heat-treated Vulcan XC-72R carbon despite the small specific surface area of GrC. Mass- and area-normalized current densities of Pt/GrC were 2.2 and 3.0 times greater than those for Pt catalyst supported on the commercial carbon, respectively. The better performance of the Pt/GrC could be due to high electric conductivity and interaction between GrC and Pt nanoparticles resulting from the presence of nitrogen in the prepared GrC. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.