10th International Aerosol Conference
September 2 - September 7, 2018
America's Center Convention Complex
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Abstract View


Employing Laser Pyrolysis to Generate Carbon Onion Particles and Its Application to Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

JE HYEON YEON, Indae Choi, Sei Jin Park, Mansoo Choi, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

     Abstract Number: 627
     Working Group: Combustion-Generated Aerosols: the Desirable and Undesirable

Abstract
Various carbon nano-materials, such as graphene, carbon nanotubes and carbon black, have been used as supports for the catalyst particles in Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) on account of conductivity and low cost. Due to the extremely high cost of widely employed pt catalyst particles in PEMFCs, it is desirable to load these particles on a robust support material such that the degradation of the support does not render the noble metal useless. Among the various forms of carbon, carbon nano-onions (CNOs) draw particular attention due to their concentric shells with high degree of graphitization. CNOs can be continuously synthesized by laser pyrolysis of hydrocarbon source (such as acetylyene and ethylene), and therefore has the advantage over other forms of carbon nano-materials due to the scalability of the production method[1].

Here, we present a CO2 laser induced pyrolysis of gaseous hydrocarbons to produce CNOs, and explore the parameter space toward the goal of producing CNOs over other carbon particles (such as amorphous soot). We demonstrate that the size, morphology and the number of graphitic shells are easily controlled by adjusting the experimental parameters. Owing to the high degree of graphitization, the CNOs show enhanced durability against oxidative potentials to commonly used commercial carbon materials such as Vulcan XC-72. Platinum-decorated CNOs have been used to fabricate PEMFCs and they are shown to have comparable performance to conventional cells, and the accelerated stress test reveals that the durability of the cells improved.

[1] M. Choi et al., Formation of shell shaped carbon nanoparticles above a critical laser power in irradiated acetylene, Adv. Mater., 2004, 16, 1721.