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Article

Investigation of Further Improvement of Platinum Catalyst Durability with Highly Graphitized Carbon Nanotubes Support

Jiajun Wang, Geping Yin,* Yuyan Shao, Zhenbo Wang, and Yunzhi Gao

Laboratory of Electrochemistry, Department of Applied Chemistry, Harbin Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 411, Harbin 150001, Peoples' Republic of China

J. Phys. Chem. C, 2008, 112 (15), pp 5784–5789

DOI: 10.1021/jp800186p

Publication Date (Web): March 27, 2008

Corresponding author. Phone and Fax: +86-451-86413707. E-mail: yingphit@hit.edu.cn.

Abstract

The highly graphitized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (HG-MWCNT) were obtained by heat treatment at 2800 °C upon the as-obtained chemically vapor deposited multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CVD−MWCNT). The graphitization behavior was studied by X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy. The results indicated that the obtained HG-MWCNT had a high degree of graphitization (95.3%), while it was only 39.5% for the as-obtained CVD−MWCNT. Electrochemical investigation suggested that the HG-MWCNT had a lower corrosion rate than the original MWCNT, which can be attributed to the less surface defects on the HG-MWCNT with the increase of the graphitization degree. The durability of the corresponding Pt/CNT catalyst was discussed. The results revealed that Pt/HG-MWCNT using the highly graphitized carbon nanotubes as the supporting material had a higher electrochemical stability, which is due to the lower corrosion rate of HG-MWCNT and the stronger interaction between metal and carbon support.

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