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Xu, Wei, Wu, Zucheng and Tao, Shanwen. (2016) Recent progress in electrocatalysts with
mesoporous structures for application in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. Journal of
Materials Chemistry A, 4 . pp. 16272-16287.
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mesoporous structures for application in polymer

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electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4,
16272
Wei Xu,ab Zucheng Wub and Shanwen Tao*ac
Recently mesoporous materials have drawn great attention in fuel cell related applications, such as
preparation of polymer electrolyte membranes and catalysts, hydrogen storage and purification. In this
mini-review, we focus on recent developments in mesoporous electrocatalysts for polymer electrolyte
membrane fuel cells, including metallic and metal-free catalysts for use as either anode or cathode
catalysts. Mesoporous Pt-based metals have been synthesized as anode catalysts with improved activity
and durability. Mesoporous carbons together with other inorganic materials are better supporting
materials than conventional carbon black, which have a large surface area, high porosity and synergistic
effect with metal particles. Pt supported on these materials has a small particle size, uniform distribution
Received 23rd June 2016
Accepted 9th September 2016
and good access to fuels, which performs better as fuel cell catalysts than commercial Pt/C. Some
efforts such as further improvement in the conductivity and chemical stability of mesoporous carbon by
DOI: 10.1039/c6ta05304a
chemical doping are stated. Moreover, metal free cathode catalysts based on heteroatom modified
www.rsc.org/MaterialsA mesoporous carbon are also summarized.
MEA is reported to be accounting for about 35–50% of the cost

1. Introduction of fuel cell systems.13 As a consequence, the MEA cost needs to
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) based on be reduced by 27% to achieve the target in 2020. Another
either a proton exchange membrane (acidic conditions) or an problem is fuel cell durability, which mainly comes from
anion exchange membrane (alkaline conditions) can use a wide membrane dehydration and catalyst degradation because of
range of renewable resources such as hydrogen gas, methanol, poisoning, corrosion and fuel crossover. Developing new
ethanol, formic acid, ammonia, hydrazine, urea, etc. as fuels.1–6 materials for MEA is a hot topic in fuel cell research to reduce
They demonstrate outstanding energy density among the elec- cost and improve durability.
trochemical energy conversion and storage systems, which is Since the ExxonMobil's M41S series of mesoporous molec-
about 5 times larger than that for current Li-ion batteries.7 Due ular sieves14 were rst reported, research on mesoporous
to the diversity of energy resources and high energy density, materials has been growing for decades. Mesoporous materials
PEMFCs are promising for applications in vehicles, portable are fascinating in many research areas due to their wonderful
electronic devices and environmental technology to produce porosity features such as tunable pore diameters, high surface
clean energy.1,8–10 The main barriers in scaling-up PEMFCs are areas, alternative pore shape, and diverse compositions.15
the cost (e.g. hydrogen storage, ion exchange membrane, cata- Different mesoporous composites like silica-based (SiO2, MCM-
lysts) and durability of the ion exchange membrane, catalysts, 41 and SBA-15 series), inorganic (metal oxides, carbon) and
and ow conditions.11 According to the U.S. Department of organic–inorganic (organometallics, colloids and nano-objects,
Energy (DOE), targets of hydrogen storage capacity and fuel cell coordination polymers) are developed with specic functions to
system cost are 40 kg m3 and $40 kW1 respectively by meet the needs in different applications.15,16 Recently, meso-
2020.12,13 The core components of the fuel cell system are the porous materials have shown excellent performance in the
polymer electrolyte membrane, catalyst layer and gas diffusion applications in PEMFCs. For instance, meso-silica has been
layer constituting the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The used for the synthesis of ion exchange membranes by incor-
porating acidic functional groups such as phosphotungstic
acid, phosphoric acid, sulfonated benzene, etc.17–20 The tested
a
School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail: S.Tao. membrane conductivity is comparable to that of Naon®
1@warwick.ac.uk; Fax: +44 (0)24 764 18922; Tel: +44 (0)24 761 51680
b
membrane and increases with temperature up to 200 C.
Department of Environmental Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy
Moreover, the mesoporous membrane can obviously prevent
Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, Zhejiang, China
c
Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800,
the crossover of liquid fuels (e.g. methanol, ethanol). Meso-
Australia porous materials have been intensively studied in energy
16272 | J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 16272–16287 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016
View Article Online
Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A
conversion technologies.16 The mesoporous (2–50 nm in pore fuels.34 Consequently, related results presented by Yusuke
size) network can enhance the intracrystalline diffusion over Yamauchi show much better performances of mesoporous Pt
orders of magnitude to improve the mass transport, compared than Pt black in methanol electrooxidation reaction under
to diffusivity in the continuous micropore (<2 nm in pore size) acidic conditions.35,36 The MMECs are usually synthesized via
space.21 The molecular exchange rate of materials traversing the liquid crystal templating methods. A facile way of preparing
mesoporous network is accelerated by using the pulsed eld metallic MMECs by using surfactants as so-templates has
gradient (PFG) technique of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) received more and more attention.16 Low molecular weight
for quantitative intracrystalline diffusion measurement. Details surfactants can result in large surface areas due to the small
on the mass transport of mesoporous materials have been pore size, but on the other hand mass transfer of fuels to
covered in excellent reviews.21,22 In the fuel cell eld, conductive catalyst active sites will be inadequate. Large molecular weight
mesoporous materials, especially mesoporous carbon, have surfactants such as triblock copolymers can lead to a large pore
been intensively investigated to prepare electrocatalysts for size by forming “cavity-crystals”. Metal ions are mixed with so-
electrodes, in order to overcome the challenge of cost and templates via surfactant self-assembly, and then reduced to
durability of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. Mesoporous struc- nanocomposites by chemical or electrochemical reduction.
tures have advantages of large specic surface area, appropriate Finally the nanocomposites are washed to remove the surfac-
pore sizes (2 to 50 nm) and large pore volumes for fuel transfer tant and remaining MMECs.
and particle deposition. Thus utilization of mesoporous struc- Bimetallic Pt alloys are common tools to achieve better
tures is a promising method to obtain highly stable and active activity and resistance to the poisoning of adsorbed interme-
catalysts for fuel cells. In the aspect of anode catalysts, strate- diates.4,37 Due to the mesoporous structure, the performance of
gies include direct synthesis of mesoporous Pt and Pt alloys Pt alloys has been further improved. For methanol electro-
without supports, or formation of metallic nanoparticles on oxidation, mesoporous Pt (16 m2 g1) and PtRu (20 m2 g1) with
mesoporous supports (e.g. carbon, metal oxides, and metal a pore diameter of 10 nm are prepared by electrodeposition
nitrides). As for the cathode, metal based catalysts with meso- with Pluronic F127® as the surfactant. The long limit mass
porous supports and heteroatom doped mesoporous carbons as activities reach 2.42 and 7.52 A g1 for Pt and PtRu, which are
metal-free catalysts are both widely reported. Although there are higher than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst (2.29 A g1).34
a few excellent reviews about applications of mesoporous Mesoporous PtCo nanorods with a pore diameter of 10–14 nm
materials in wide topics of energy conversion and storage such are electrodeposited in the interior channels of the porous
as solar cells, fuel production, rechargeable batteries, super- membrane with metal precursors dissolved in water–ionic
capacitors and fuel cells,16,23–28 this review focuses on the recent liquid microemulsion.38,39 The porosity of PtCo is dependent on
development of mesoporous materials for fuel cell catalysts, the ratio of water to the ionic liquid, and the diameters of
including mesoporous Pt (and Pt alloys), metals with meso- nanorods are in accordance with the pore size of the membrane.
porous supports, and metal-free mesoporous carbon catalysts. It is claimed that the PtCo nanorods have an ECSA of about
40–200 m2 g1, and 3 times higher mass-normalized current
density than commercial Pt/C with improved poisoning toler-
2. Use of mesoporous materials as ance. For ethanol electrooxidation, mesoporous PtRuSn
anode catalysts prepared by the reduction of metal precursors with a non-ionic
surfactant achieves an active surface area of 54 m2 g1, and
Platinum-group metals are tested to be the most active catalysts
lowers the onset potential by about 0.1 V.40 The current density
toward both anode oxidation reaction and cathode reduction
of PtRuSn in 0.5 M H2SO4/1 M C2H5OH reaches about 20 A g1
reaction. The challenges in using Pt catalysts are the high cost
at 0.6 V vs. RHE. In practice, metal particles formed with a small
and poisoning by the oxidation intermediates like COads and
size (usually around several nm) are benecial for larger active
Nads.29,30 Numerous studies have been carried out to improve the
surface areas and better activity.41 However the pore size of
activity and durability of noble Pt-based catalysts by doping
MMECs does not have a similar effect to the particle size.
non-noble elements (e.g. transition metals, phosphorus) and
Mesoporous PtRu with a pore size of 10 nm is observed to be
forming hollow, core–shell or mesoporous nanostructures.31–33
better than that with a pore size of 3 nm for methanol oxida-
Research on mesoporous electrocatalysts can be basically cate-
tion.42 The possible reason is that methanol residence time is
gorized into two approaches: direct preparation of unsupported
not sufficient owing to the poor mass transfer if the pore size is
metal electrocatalysts with mesoporous structures to obtain
less than 3 nm.43 In contrast, catalysts with a 10 nm pore size
large surface area; enhancement of the dispersion of metal
have greater accessibility to methanol, thus methanol can be
particles by depositing metals on mesoporous supporting
adequately oxidized in larger pores. This indicates that the pore
materials.
size of MMECs is an important factor.
2.1 Metallic mesoporous electrocatalysts

Metallic mesoporous electrocatalysts (MMECs) have a much 2.2 Metals supported on mesoporous materials (MSMMs)
larger electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) than Another strategy of preparing mesoporous electrocatalysts for
conventional solid catalysts.5 In addition, the porous structure fuel cell anodes is to deposit metals on mesoporous materials.
with an optimal pore size can improve the mass transport of In comparison with MMECs, mesoporous catalysts for fuel cells
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016 J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 16272–16287 | 16273
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Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review
are mainly focused on MSMMs according to published reports.

In particular, supporting materials such as carbon black for
metal catalysts have been commonly used to prepare electrodes
in fuel cell fabrication. Carbon supporting materials have
a large surface area and high electrical conductivity, so they can
greatly improve the performance of catalysts.43 With the devel-
opment of carbon supported catalysts, the loading of noble
metals in fuel cells has been largely reduced. However, tradi-
tional carbon supporting materials still face some disadvan-
tages. First, carbon black is susceptible to corrosion caused by

electrochemical oxidation.44,45 Second, the size of micropores

(less than 1 nm) in carbon is too small to achieve sufficient mass
transfer of fuel to the catalyst surface, thus limiting the activity
of the catalyst.46,47 In the same way, micropores will result in
a low accessible surface area to support metal deposition, so
metal particles primarily reside on the outer carbon black
surface. Third, carbon black is resistant to gas and liquid
diffusion and does not conduct protons, leading to low catalyst
utilization. Accordingly, ionomers like expensive Naon® inks
are always used to increase the three-phase boundary and
facilitate transport of protons.48
In order to solve the above problems, novel supporting
materials are applied with the development of advanced nano-
materials. For example, graphene, carbon nanotubes and mes-
oporous carbon have been used to prepare metal based catalysts
for fuel cells and exhibit improved electrochemical properties
Fig. 1 Schematic diagrams of (a) hard template and (b) soft template
due to the large surface area, high chemical stability and methods to prepare mesoporous carbon. Reproduced with permis-
excellent electrical conductivity.49–52 The pore size of meso- sion from ref. 56. Copyright 2014, Elsevier.
porous materials (2 to 50 nm) matches with those of most metal
particles, leading to a high accessible surface area to support
metal deposition. Besides, the relatively large pores (>3 nm) are atmosphere) to graphitize the carbon precursor. Mesoporous
able to allow fuels to contact the metal surface with long resi- carbon nanoparticles can also be prepared with glucose as the
dence time, resulting in a high utilization of metals and high carbon precursor partially carbonized at 180 C for 4 h, followed
oxidation efficiency. Although the commercial ordered meso- by functionalization with an amine-terminated ionic liquid.57
porous silica (OMS) is proved to be an ideal supporting material Finally, metal ions are reduced and deposited on OMCs to
in environment- and energy-related catalysis, the poor electrical obtain MSMMs.
conductivity limits its direct application in fuel cells.53,54 Based Until now, different kinds of MSMMs have been successfully
on a silica template, mesoporous carbon materials were rst synthesized. In Ahn et al.'s experiment, colloidal silica was used
prepared in 1999, which had great scientic and technological as the template and sucrose was used as the carbon source to
importance as new electrode materials to be applied in fuel obtain 50 wt% Pt/OMCs.58 Half of the pores of OMCs (5 nm
cells.55 Present research studies are mostly concentrated on diameter) are uniformly occupied by Pt nanoparticles (2.5 nm
ordered mesoporous carbons (OMCs). particle size) or are lost during Pt/OMC preparation. In addition
The hard-template (e.g. SBA-15, MCM-41 and silica colloid) to the enhanced metal-accommodation ability, mesoporous
and so-template (e.g. amphiphilic surfactants and triblock co- carbon also leads to better mass transport according to the
polymers) approaches are two widely used synthesis methods of polarization plots and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy
OMCs. In the hard-template method, pores in OMS are mixed (EIS) results.59 He et al. have investigated the cyclic voltammo-
with a carbon source (e.g. sucrose, resorcinol and formalde- grams (CVs) of methanol oxidation on commercial Pt/C (E-TEK)
hyde). Then the carbonization is completed by pyrolysis at high and Pt/mesoporous carbon nanoparticles (Pt/MCNPs).57 In the
temperature, followed by removing the silica template to obtain forward scan, the maximum current density of Pt/MCNPs is 2.3
the OMCs. In the so-template method, a carbon precursor times higher than that of the E-TEK Pt/C catalyst. Lee et al. used
(organic monomers) is polymerized with the self-assembly of SBA-15 as the template to prepare OMCs supported Pt–Ru for
a surfactant in a liquid to form a carbon-surfactant composite. methanol oxidation, achieving a specic surface area about 900
Aer removing the surfactant, carbonization will be carried out m2 g1 and pore size about 4 nm.60 The specic surface area of
by pyrolysis at high temperature. Schematic diagrams of the two OMCs is much larger than that of commercial carbon supports
synthesis methods are shown in Fig. 1.56 Both methods to make (about 240 m2 g1, Vulcan XC-72R).61 TEM images show that the
carbon based mesoporous supporting materials require Pt–Ru nanoparticles are uniformly deposited on OMCs and the
a pyrolysis process (normally at 900–1000 C under a N2 particle sizes are limited to 4 nm. They further prepared
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O-doped OMCs by H2O2 treatment to improve the activity. N- density than Pt/OMCs, Pt/Vulcan XC-72 and PtRu/XC in chro-
doped mesoporous carbons are also developed by using noamperometry (see Fig. 2B). Pt/P7OMCs have a relatively stable
nitrogen-containing carbon precursors such as poly- electrochemical activity and better CO-tolerance towards
acrylonitrile, polypyrrole and polyaniline.62–65 Zhang et al. methanol oxidation. One reason may be the increase of oxygen-
developed a honeycomb-like mesoporous N-doped carbon containing functional groups aer P doping, which promote
supported Pt catalyst for methanol oxidation.66 Cyclic voltam- CO-tolerance and enhance the stability. It can be found from
mogram measurements indicate that the peak current density Fig. 2C that ECSA (90.7 6.1 m2 g1) aer a 10 000 s stability
of the N-doped carbon catalyst is 1.4 times higher than that of test is only a little bit lower than the original value (96.3
the carbon catalyst without N doping. The addition of nitrogen 7.3 m2 g1), and from Fig. 2D that Pt nanoparticles are not
element not only has an intense anchoring effect on Pt nano- obviously aggregated aer 10 000 s. Moreover, mesoporous
particles, but also enhances the electrical conductivity. The carbons incorporated with other compounds, such as ceria,
doping of P heteroatom inhibits the aggregation of metal carbon nanotubes, tungsten carbide and tin oxide are also
particles and leads to a uniform distribution on mesoporous prepared.68–71 Ceramic materials such as ceria and tungsten
carbons, clearly presented in the TEM pictures in Fig. 2E, in carbide were observed to have a stabilization effect on Pt during
contrast with Fig. 2F.67 The Pt supported on phosphorus doped the long time test.68,69 Stability tests indicate that the electro-
OMCs (Pt/P7OMCs) demonstrates a much higher current chemically active surface of Pt/mesoporous carbon–ceria
Fig. 2 (A) Chronoamperometry curves of Pt/P7OMCs at different oxidation voltages: (a) 0.5, (b) 0.6, (c) 0.8, (d) 0.7 V (inset: with different
concentrations of methanol at 0.7 V) in a solution of 0.5 M H2SO4 + 1.0 M CH3OH. (B) Chronoamperometry curves of Pt/Vulcan XC-72, PtRu/XC,
Pt/OMCs and Pt/P7OMCs recorded at 0.7 V. Scan rate: 50 mV s1. (C) CVs of Pt/P7OMCs in 0.5 M H2SO4 before and after 10 000 s stability test.
TEM image of (D) Pt/P7OMCs after 10 000 s stability test; (E) Pt/OMCs and (F) Pt/P7OMCs. Reproduced with permission from ref. 67. Copyright
2014, Elsevier.
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reduces by 45% aer accelerated degradation of 2000 min, in Besides carbon-based mesoporous supporting materials,
comparison to 70% of conventional Pt/C.69 Tin oxide is also non-carbon mesoporous supporting materials (e.g. CrN, TiN,
regarded to enhance the ethanol oxidation on Pt by effectively SnO2–Sb) have also been developed for Pt. These supports have
splitting the C–C bonds in ethanol.71 Pt on carbon nanotubes a large surface area due to the porous structure. Gurrola et al.
doped OMCs (Pt/CNTs–OMC) prepared by Zhang et al. exhibit claim that aer 100 cycles of CVs in acid medium, ECSA of Pt/
about twice higher current density in methanol oxidation than Sb–SnO2 decreases less than 10%.72 In contrast, ECSA of Pt/C
Pt/CNTs and Pt/OMC (see Fig. 3).70 This is because the doping of decreases signicantly attributing to the oxidation of carbon
CNTs forms a unique structure of CNTs–OMC nanocomposites, supports. In addition, metal nitride is a better choice for non-
which is conductive to electron transfer across the OMC parti- carbon supporting materials, as it not only exhibits long-time
cles and results in lowering of the interfacial resistance, illus- stability and faster oxidation of CO, but also has high electrical
trated in Fig. 3e. Accordingly, the conductivity of OMC is only conductivity. Mesoporous TiN is prepared by Yang et al. via
4.3 S m1, and it rises to 26.4 S m1 aer doping CNTs. The a solid–solid phase separation method.73 This material is
ECSAs of Pt/OMCs, Pt/CNTs and Pt/CNTs–OMCs are 57.8, 80.4 formed by heating Zn2TiO4 in ammonia gas without a template.
and 113.4 m2 g1, respectively. In brief, all these doped meso- Mesoporous TiN demonstrates a high conductivity of 395 S
porous carbons present further improvement of activity and cm1 at 35 bar and good electrochemical stability. Accounting
durability of Pt-based catalysts for oxidation reaction in to the CV tests of methanol oxidation, the peak current density
comparison with non-doped mesoporous carbon which are big of Pt/TiN is 1.5 times higher than that of Pt/C. Yang et al. also
advantages for fuel cell applications. prepared mesoporous CrN with a high conductivity of 54 S cm1
Fig. 3 Long-term stability of (a) Pt/CNTs–OMC, (b) Pt/OMC and (c) Pt/CNTs in 1.0 mol L1 H2SO4 + 2.0 mol L1 CH3OH with a scan rate of 50
mV s1 for 100 cycles and (d) the current density tendency of Pt/CNTs–OMC, Pt/OMC and Pt/CNTs in the forward scan with increasing cycle
number. (e) Schematic of electron transport in Pt/CNTs–OMC. Reproduced from ref. 70 with permission from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
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Table 1 A summary of properties of various mesoporous supports
Mesoporous supports Specic surface area Pore size Pore volume Conductivity Ref.
Sb–SnO2 216.7 m2 g1 6.53 nm 0.276 cm3 g1 0.202 S cm1 72

CNTs–OMC 1231 m2 g1 4.1 nm 1.408 cm3 g1 26.4 S m1 70
Ceria–mesocarbon — 5.1 nm — — 67
N–mesocarbon 639–787 m2 g1 12.4 nm — Enhanced by N species 66
P–mesocarbon 1338.8 13 m2 g1 3.8 0.3 nm 1.36 0.15 cm3 g1 — 67
SnO2–mesocarbon 1556 m2 g1 3.2 nm — — 71
72 m2 g1 — 54 S cm1 (compressed at 35 bar)
CrN 10 to 20 nm 74
TiN 28.1 m2 g1 25 nm — 395 S cm1 (at 35 bar) 73
WC/carbon 409 m2 g1 5.0 nm 0.47 cm3 g1 — 68
by ammonolysis of K2Cr2O7.74 The pore size ranges from 10 to O2 + 2H2O + 4e / 4OH (4e pathway) (4)
20 nm, and some microporosity is observed. CrN is electro-
chemically stable at acidic conditions up to 1.2 V, where carbon O2 + H2O + 2e / HO2 + OH (2e pathway) (5)
materials tend to corrode. When used as a Pt supporting
material (Pt/CrN) for methanol oxidation, the synergistic effect H2O + HO2 + 2e / 3OH (6)
of Pt and CrN allows faster CO oxidation. The peak current
Oxygen can be directly reduced to H2O or OH via a 4e
density is 195 mA mgPt1 for Pt/CrN and 145 mA mgPt1 for Pt/
pathway, or incompletely reduced to H2O2 or HO2 via a 2e
C. Pt/CrN shows higher electrochemical activity and a slower
pathway. In proton exchange membrane fuel cells, H+ is trans-
deterioration rate than Pt/C. Recently developed mesoporous
ported from the anode to cathode to further react with O2,
supports are summarized in Table 1.
forming H2O or H2O2. The anion exchange membrane based
The recently reported MMECs and MSMMs for fuel cell
PEMFCs produce OH as charge carriers via ORR to provide
anodes achieved enhanced specic mass activity and durability
alkaline conditions. This will allow the use of nonprecious
which are superior to those of commercial Pt/C catalysts.
transition metals based mesoporous catalysts for fuel cells.
MMECs can be prepared in a facile way at room temperature,
avoiding the origin of high cost of high-temperature pyrolysis
during the MSMM synthesis. In addition, MMECs can also be 3.1 Mesoporous cathode electrocatalysts for acidic PEMFCs
directly grown on an electrode surface under good contact Platinum based metals with carbon supports have good cata-
conditions by the electrodeposition method,34,38,42 without the lytic behaviour toward ORR. Nevertheless, the high cost and
use of costly ionomers to immobilize catalysts onto the elec- activity degradation due to agglomeration of platinum nano-
trode surface. The nanostructure, particle size, pore size and particles, corrosion of the carbon supports and anode fuel
elemental composition of MMECs and MSMMs can be designed crossover still exist as a bottleneck for wide commercial appli-
by choosing the templates and reaction conditions during the cation. Accordingly, numerous efforts have been made to
synthesis, in order to obtain optimal performance. This improve the catalyst performance. Similar to anode catalysts,
provides a promising method for the generation of high- mesoporous carbon is used as a support for Pt. Liu et al.
performance and cost-effective metal catalysts for fuel cells with prepared mesoporous carbon supported Pt, which exhibits
stable performance. higher mass specic kinetic current density than XC-72 carbon
supported Pt.76 The durability is also improved, as the electro-
chemical surface area of Pt/mesoporous carbon decreases from
3. Use of mesoporous materials in 24.5 cm2 mgPt1 to 20.6 cm2 mgPt1 and that of Pt/XC-72
cathode catalysts decreases from 21.8 cm2 mgPt1 to 11.1 cm2 mgPt1 under the
same conditions. Besides, mesoporous carbon supported Pt can
The cathode reaction of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is inhibit the formation of H2O2 with a yield of 0.25% in ORR,
the rate-determining process in PEMFCs, thus there are many lower than the yield of 1.25% from Pt/C.77
investigations into ORR catalysts. The ORR has different reac- Modied mesoporous carbons and mesoporous metal
tion routines in acidic and alkaline PEMFCs:75 nitride supported Pt exhibit much more remarkable improve-
Acidic conditions: ment. You et al. synthesized OMC–SiC composites as a support
for Pt by a controlled carbothermal reduction process to utilize
O2 + 4H+ + 4e / 2H2O (4e pathway) (1)
both the ordered mesopores of OMC and the high electro-
O2 + 2H+ + 2e / H2O2 (2e pathway) (2) chemical stability of the SiC materials.78 The ORR current
density using Pt/OMC–SiC shows negligible change (0.16%)
H2O2 + 2H+ + 2e / 2H2O (3) aer 1000 cycles, while the ORR current density using
commercial Pt/C decreases by 33.4%. The improvement is
Alkaline conditions: attributed to a strong interaction of platinum and Si atom on
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the surface of carbon frameworks, which makes the catalyst 3.2 Mesoporous electrocatalysts for alkaline membrane fuel
more electrochemically stable. In addition, zirconia with the cells
treatment of a sulfonated ionomer has been used to modify
In alkaline PEMFCs, transition metals such as Fe and Co based
mesoporous carbon supports to form zirconia/ionomer/mes-
compounds supported on mesoporous carbons are also inves-
oporous carbon.79 The mass ORR activity increases from 51
tigated as ORR catalysts in order to avoid the use of noble
mA mgPt1 to 74 mA mgPt1 when the ionomer is used to
metals.88–92 Cobalt oxide and cobalt sulde supported on mes-
improve the availability of protons and enhance O2 solubility.
oporous carbon or heteroatom doped carbon possess compa-
Yang et al. tested non-carbon mesoporous CrN supported Pt as rable or even higher catalytic activity than commercial Pt/C
a catalyst for ORR.80 The specic surface area of Pt/CrN is
toward ORR.93–96 In addition, Co based catalysts are remarkably

68.5 0.1 m2 g1. Kinetic current density obtained from
methanol-tolerant and more stable than Pt/C. For example, in
polarization curves at 0.9 V is 9.1 mA mgPt1 for Pt/CrN and

chronoamperometric tests, when the current of Pt/C decreased
5 mA mgPt1 for commercial Pt/C, respectively. Another non-
by 26%, the current of CoS/N,S-codoped porous carbon reduced
carbon mesoporous support for oxygen reduction reaction is
by only 8% under the same conditions.95 A Ni-doped Co3O4
TiNbN with a pore size of 30–50 nm.81 Its electrical conduc-
nanowire array (nNi/nCo ¼ 1 : 9) with a mesoporous structure
tivity reaches 3.9 S cm1, which is about 2.5 times higher than
was used for ORR by Tong et al. recently.97 This mesoporous Ni–
that of Vulcan XC-72 carbon black (1.5 S cm1) under the same Co3O4 has a large pore volume of 0.23 cm3 g1 with the pore size
measurement conditions. Though its specic surface area is ranging from 4 to 15 nm, leading to a large surface area of
45 m2 g1, which is smaller than that of the mesoporous
70.3 m2 g1. It exhibits more positive half-wave potential (E1/2 ¼
carbon support, Pt/TiNbN still exhibits larger kinetic current
0.86 V) and higher diffusion-limiting current density (JL ¼ about
density (256 mA mgPt1) than Pt/C (142 mA mgPt1) at 0.9 V.
5.76 mA cm2) than Co3O4 (E1/2 ¼ 0.6 V, JL ¼ 1.32 mA cm2) and
The activity loss of Pt/TiNbN and Pt/C aer 5000 cycles is
Pt/C (E1/2 ¼ 0.85 V, JL ¼ 5.42 mA cm2) catalysts. It is almost
19.2% and 29.4% respectively, indicating that the stability is
insensitive to methanol and CO, and much more stable than Pt/
improved. In addition, TiNbN is stable both in acidic and
C in accelerated ORR measurements. Some studies reported
alkaline solution. that Fe based mesoporous catalysts possess high catalytic
Transition metal catalysts with mesoporous carbon have activity comparable with commercial Pt/C, long-time stability
been proved to be better than those with carbon black attrib-
and methanol tolerance.98,99 The addition of Fe has been
uting to the increased surface area.82–86 According to Liang's
observed to greatly improve the ORR activity of mesoporous
work, a series of mesoporous carbon supported Co (C–N–Co)
carbon with N doping due to the high density of surface active
catalysts are prepared using different templates (silica colloid,
sites.98,99 When a trace amount of Fe (0.2 at%) is added, the
ordered mesoporous silica SBA-15, or montmorillonite).85 The
calculated kinetic current density of Fe–N–C catalyst increases
ORR activity is found to be proportional to the specic surface
from about 6 mA cm2 (N–C catalyst) to 32.26 mA cm2, which
area, as shown in Fig. 4. As a result, mesoporous carbon sup- is higher than that of Pt/C (30.56 mA cm2).100 It was also
ported catalysts (VB12/MMT, VB12/SBA-15, VB12/silica colloid) noticed that the electron transfer number of ORR changes from
perform better than carbon black supported catalysts (VB12/C)
2.61 to 4.04. However, Yang et al. found that the role of Fe was to
due to the increase in surface area. Liu et al. prepared stable and
produce more active N sites during the catalyst preparation, and
methanol-tolerant ORR catalysts, i.e. Fe carbide supported on
the physical presence of Fe in N-doped carbon was not neces-
N-doped carbon, with a high specic area (705 m2 g1) and
sary to enhance the ORR activity.101 The activity sites of Fe–N–C
kinetic limiting current density (18.35 mA cm2 at 0.7 V).87
need to be further investigated. Until now, great improvement
in the use of nonprecious metals based ORR catalysts has been
made for both acidic and alkaline PEMFCs, as listed in Table 2,
in order to reduce the cost and enhance the performance.
3.3 Metal-free mesoporous electrocatalysts

The use of metal based catalysts brings concerns about toxic
metal pollution, irreplaceable or rare metal resources and hard-
degraded substances. The crossover of anode fuels is one of the
challenges in fuel cells, and metal based catalysts are active
toward both anode and cathode fuels. As a result, fuel cell
efficiency will be reduced owing to the undesirable oxidation
reaction at the cathode. Carbon materials are renewable and
easy to handle, and are tolerant to anode fuels. They are
promising materials for cathode catalysts to reach high effi-
ciency and reduce the cost. Furthermore, heteroatoms have
Fig. 4 The correlation between catalyst activity and apparent BET
different electronegativity and size from carbon atoms, and they
surface areas of the C–N–Co catalysts. Reproduced with permission can change the charge distribution and electronic properties of
from ref. 85. Copyright 2013, American Chemical Society. pure carbon materials.26,75 Tailoring carbon materials by the
View Article Online
Table 2 Selected ORR catalysts composed of nonprecious transition metals with mesoporous carbon as a supporting material
Centred pore Specic surface ORR onset

Catalyst diameter (nm) area (m2 g1) potential Performance Ref.
Fe–N/OMC (hollow-core) 3.5 1187 0.89 V vs. RHE ORR current densities at 0.8 V vs. RHE 82
are 0.04 mA cm2 for Fe–N/commercial
carbon (Ketjen black CJ600), and 1.0
mA cm2 for Fe–N/OMC
Fe–N/OMC 22 1138 to 1338 0.8 V vs. RHE ORR current densities at 0.55 V vs. RHE 83,84
are 1.1 mA cm2 for Fe–N/commercial
carbon (Black Pearl 2000), and 1.5 to

3.0 mA cm2 for Fe–N/OMC (depending

on the pore diameter)
Co–N–carbon 12 572 0.87 vs. RHE 4.5 mA cm2 at 0.3 V, better than carbon 85
black supported Co–N
CoFe–N–OMC (Co : Fe ¼ 1 : 3) 2.4 670 0.7 V vs. RHE When used as cathode catalysts in fuel 86
cell tests, at a cell voltage of 0.3 V, current
density of PAIN/CoFe/OMC and
commercial Pt/C is 0.89 and 1.07 A cm2,
respectively
Co3O4/N–mesoporous graphene 20 to 40 1599 0.93 V vs. RHE Compared to commercial Pt/C, it has 93
a more positive onset potential, higher
current density and improved stability
from the prevention of nanoparticle
agglomeration
CoO/N–carbon 3.3 1390 0.06 V vs. Ag/AgCl Kinetic-limited current density reaches 94
22.29 mA cm2 at 0.4 V, higher than
that of commercial Pt/C (21.32 mA cm2);
largely improved methanol tolerance
CoS/N,S–carbon N/A 248 0.92 V vs. RHE ORR current density reaches 4.50 mA 95
cm2 at 0.45 V vs. RHE, largely improved
methanol tolerance
CoS2/graphene oxide 2.5 to 3.5 10 to 19 0.97 V vs. RHE ORR potential at 3 mA cm2 is 0.76 V 96
for CoS2/graphene oxide and 0.86 V for
Pt/C
Fe3C@N–carbon 2 705 0.92 vs. RHE Kinetic limiting current density (18.35 87
mA cm2, at 0.7 V) was close to that of
commercial Pt/C catalyst (19.25 mA
cm2, at 0.7 V)
Fe–N/carbon 6.6 56 0.92 vs. RHE ORR activity is comparable to Pt/C both 98
in acidic and alkaline media, high
density of surface active sites, while its
specic surface area is not so high
Fe–N–carbon 3.0 to 5.5 236 0.95 vs. RHE Kinetic current density is 7.40 mA cm2 99
at 0.82 V, higher than that for Pt/C (6.30
mA cm2 at 0.82 V), high stability
Fe/carbon–N, Co/carbon–N 3.4 to 4.9 700 to 860 0.8 V vs. RHE Single cell PEMFC current density at 0.6 V 102
vs. RHE: 0.1 A cm2 for Fe/OMC–N;
0.06 A cm2 for Co/OMC–N; 0.3 A
cm2 for commercial Pt/C
introduction of heteroatoms to obtain metal-free catalysts with formation of the nitrogen-doped OMC aer polymerization and
ideal ORR activity is a hot issue nowadays. In recent years, etching.109 The ORR current density at 0.9 V reached 0.07, 0.09
nitrogen-doped carbon with N-containing polymers, ammonia, and 0.12 mA cm2 when the pyrolysis temperature was at
as well as nitrogen gas as the nitrogen source or the source of 800 C, 900 C and 1000 C respectively. Furthermore it was
both nitrogen and carbon has been developed, which possesses found that nitrogen-activated carbon (C–N) is the active site for
good ORR activity.103–108 Further developments on the combi- the ORR because current density increases with the C–N frac-
nation of mesoporous carbon materials with heteroatom tion. Zhang et al. developed a simple template-free method to
doping make metal-free catalysts a potential substitution for the fabricate nitrogen-doped porous carbon foam from melamine–
Pt/C catalyst. formaldehyde foam by a two-step pyrolysis process: heating at
In a recent study, the SBA-15 template was impregnated with 300 C in air and then at 1000 C in a N2 atmosphere.110 This
pyrrole as both the carbon and nitrogen source via vapor- carbon foam (4.3 at% N content) has a small pore size below
ization–capillary condensation in a vacuum container, and then 5 nm and gives rise to a high specic surface area of 980 m2 g1.
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Rotating disk electrode (RDE) voltammograms are used to nitrogen-doped carbon (HNC) as a simple, environmental
investigate the ORR pathway of this carbon foam. It reveals that friendly, economic and template-free synthesis method, as
the average electron transfer number is about 3.6 with little shown in Fig. 6.113 Aniline monomer was polymerized with the
hydrogen peroxide generation. The ORR activity of carbon foam addition of K3[Fe(CN)6] in an ice bath (<5 C) for 24 h, followed
is slightly lower than that of Pt/C, but the methanol-tolerance is by washing and carbonization to form a hollow and porous
largely improved. Nanoporous carbon nanocables with carbon structure. Trace Fe (0.13 at%) was le in HNC, with C, O, N
nanotubes as the core and N-doped carbon as the shell have contents of 86.55, 11.87, and 1.95 at%. Fig. 6a and b demon-
been prepared by Jiang et al.111 This core–shell catalyst has strate that HNC is close to commercial Pt/C in ORR activity. In
a specic surface area of 413 m2 g1 and pore diameter range addition, the HNC has advantages of better methanol crossover
from 1.7 to 4 nm. It demonstrates much higher ORR activity resistance and long-term durability in alkaline medium. This
than the catalyst with a core or shell only. It achieves a four- feature is excellent for methanol fuelled alkaline membrane
electron transfer in ORR with high catalytic activity comparable fuel cells.
with Pt/C and remarkable methanol tolerance. Nitrogen-doped Dual elements doped mesoporous carbon was also prepared
hollow mesoporous carbon spheres (HMCSs) were also as an ORR catalyst, such as B-, N-doped carbon nanobers, S-,
prepared based on mesoporous silica spheres (MSSs) as shown N-doped mesoporous carbon, and O-, N-doped mesoporous
in Fig. 5.112 MSSs are initially formed from tetraethylorthosili- carbon. Mesoporous carbon doped with N and O was fabricated
cate (TEOS) and trimethoxy(octadecyl) silane (C18TMS), then by the thermal treatment of PANI/SBA-15 and silica etching.64
HMCSs are prepared aer carbonization with the addition of The heating temperature (600 C to 900 C) could affect the N
nitrogen and carbon sources and HF washing. The nitrogen and O contents in mesoporous carbon. Nitrogen atoms were
sources for HMCS-1 and HMCS-2 are glycine and lysine, observed to decrease with increase in temperature. In contrast,
respectively, and glucose for HMCS-3 (no nitrogen doping). O atoms would increase as the O is introduced from the mes-
Aer forming a hollow structure, the specic surface area oporous silica driven by the high temperature. The current
increases from 335 m2 g1 (MSSs) to 451 m2 g1 (HMCSs). density of ORR achieved from mesoporous N-, O-carbon
Among the three prepared metal free catalysts toward ORR, synthesized at a pyrolysis temperature of 800 C is larger than
HMCS-1 is the most active one, which displays comparable that of Pt/C. Qi Shi et al. prepared two kinds of B, N-codoped
although inferior ORR activity to the commercial Pt/C catalyst mesoporous carbon nanobers, namely BNCf-N and BNCf-
(see Fig. 5E and F). HMCSs show excellent methanol tolerance NA.114 BNCf-N is pyrolysed with a mixture of boric acid/urea
as they are inactive toward methanol, so they are a promising under N2, and BNCf-NA is further treated under NH3. The B–N–
catalyst to replace Pt catalysts and achieve high efficiency. C sites can enhance the ORR activity and demonstrate the
Moreover, another route has been reported to prepare hollow synergistic effect of B, N-codoping. Raman and XPS spectra
Fig. 5 (A) Schematic illustration of the formation of HMCSs; TEM micrographs of HMCS-1 (a) and HMCS-2 (b); HRTEM micrographs (c and d) and
SAED (inset in d) of HMCS-1; ORR polarization curves of HMCSs (E) and Pt/C (F) in O2 saturated 0.1 M KOH solution, sweep rate: 10 mV s1,
rotation speed: 1600 rpm. Reproduced with permission from ref. 112. Copyright 2014, Elsevier.
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Fig. 6 Schematic representation of the synthesis of hollow nitrogen-doped carbon; (a) CV curves of HNC and commercial Pt/C catalysts in 0.1 M
KOH at a sweep rate of 50 mV s1. (b) LSV curves of HNC and commercial Pt/C catalysts in O2 saturated 0.1 M KOH at a sweep rate of 10 mV s1
and 1600 rpm rotating speed. Reproduced with permission from ref. 113. Copyright 2015, Elsevier.
show that the content of defect sites is enhanced aer NH3 To date, S-, N-doped porous carbon materials have been re-
activation. The relative amount of pyridinic-N, which is ported with different N and S sources, as shown in Table 3.
favourable for ORR, increased from 13 (BNCf-N) to 41 at% Normally N and S co-doped carbon catalysts present a larger
(BNCf-NA) aer NH3 activation, as shown in Fig. 7. The specic electron transfer number compared to sole N or S doped carbon
surface area increased from 24.7 (BNCf-N) to 306.3 m2 g1 catalysts, leading to high efficiency of ORR.115–117 Sulphur atoms
(BNCf-NA) aer NH3 activation. Compared with commercial Pt/ bonding with carbon have a thiophene-like structure, which has
C catalysts, the metal free BNCf-NA catalyst shows high elec- been proved to improve the catalysts with sole nitrogen doping
trocatalytic efficiency, much better stability and methanol due to the synergistic effects originating from S and N
tolerance thus a promising alternative to the Pt/C ORR catalyst. atoms.116–118 For example, S-, N-doped porous carbon foam
Fig. 7 B 1s and N 1s XPS spectra of (a and b) BNCf-N and (c and d) BNCf-NA. Reproduced with permission from ref. 114. Copyright 2015, Elsevier.
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exhibits an ORR onset potential close to that of Pt/C, and its
Ref.
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
current density is higher with a limited-kinetic current density
of 11.69 mA cm2 at 0.40 V.119 Rotating-disk voltammetry
N: 4.51 (6.38) wt%; S: 4.12 (6.38) wt%

measurements show that the electron transfer number is 3.96,
N/C (%): 2.5–26; S/C (%): 0.7–3.1

indicating a high-efficiency four-electron process with negli-
N: 4.7 at% and S: 0.68 at% gible formation of H2O2.
N: 0.58 at% and S: 1.0 at%
N: 4.5 at% and S: 2.0 at%
N: 2.97 wt%; S: 0.89 wt%
N: 6.53 wt%; S: 2.88 wt%

Gao et al. reported N-, S-, and P-tridoped porous carbon
Content of S, N atoms
fabricated from the pyrolysis of worst weed (Eclipta prostrata).122

Heteroatoms were directly introduced from the natural
compounds of worst weed. The as-prepared tri-doped carbon

consists of mesopores with diameter from 5 to 30 nm and

a small number of macropores with diameter from 100 to 150
nm. The pore volume and specic surface area reach 0.2676 cm3
g1 and 378.5 m2 g1, respectively. This (N, S, P)-doped carbon
achieves higher catalytic activity and better durability toward
Specic surface
four-electron ORR in comparison with the Pt/C catalyst.

area (m2 g1)
56.9 to 860.4
Pyrolysis temperature is a vital factor in the synthesis of
855 (409)
157–220
heteroatoms doped mesoporous carbon, which can largely

133.56
1100
281
394
affect the catalytic activity as well as the number of electrons

transferred for ORR. The optimal pyrolysis temperature is
around 900 C according to the reported studies, and it may vary
pyrolysis, 400–1000 C (900 C is optimal)
Polymerization of aniline (shell) on the
Modied Hummers method, colloidal
because of the different carbon and heteroatom precursors

Mesoporous silica/graphene template
surface of sulphur spheres (core) and
silica template and pyrolysis, 900 C

chemical vapour deposition, 700 C
used.64,109,111,115–117,119,121 If the pyrolysis temperature is too low,

Silica nanospheres template and
Mesoporous silica template and
the carbon sheath will not be adequately graphitized, thus the

as-prepared mesoporous carbon will be of poor electrical
conductivity. If the pyrolysis temperature is too high, active sites
Synthesis method and
pyrolysis temperature
and pyrolysis, 900 C
in the as-prepared mesoporous carbon will decrease due to the

pyrolysis, 1000 C
pyrolysis, 1000 C
low heteroatom doping level (density). Besides, the specic

pyrolysis, 750 C
surface area and pore volume of mesoporous carbon are also

inuenced by the pyrolysis temperature. For these reasons,
optimal preparation conditions need to be investigated in order
to make heteroatom doped mesoporous carbon a potential
Recently reported N-, S-co-doped mesoporous carbon catalysts for ORR
substitute for the commercial Pt/C catalyst with enhanced ORR

activity, complete reduction product, long stability and meth-
Phenothiazine (or indigo carmine)
Aniline, Na2S2O3 and (NH4)2S2O8
anol tolerance.
Melamine and benzyl disulde
Thiophene and pyrimidine
4. Fuel cell performance using

electrocatalysts with a mesoporous
Precursor (C, N, S)
1-Allyl-2-thiourea
structure
Thiourea
Cysteine
Although many studies reported the superior performance of

mesoporous catalysts toward anode and cathode reactions
characterized by electrochemical measurements in three-elec-
trode systems, it was still required to be further veried by
practical fuel cell performance. The three-electrode measure-
ments are performed in bulk electrolytes with catalysts in direct
N,S–mesoporous carbon/graphene
contact with fuels. In fuel cell electrodes, liquid or gas fuels

N,S–mesoporous carbon foams
need to pass through the diffusion layer to reach the catalyst

N,S–mesoporous graphene
N,S–porous carbon foams
layer. As a fuel cell is a more complicated system, many factors

N,S–mesoporous carbon
N,S–mesoporous carbon
such as MEA fabrication (Naon loading, gas diffusion layer,

press process, etc.) and operation conditions (temperature, ow
N,S–porous carbon
rate, humidity, etc.), barring its catalyst properties, will affect its
current density, which probably diminish the superiority of
nanosheets
mesoporous catalysts. For example, when Pt/mesoporous

Catalyst
Table 3
carbon (Pt/MC) is assembled at the cathode in a H2/O2 fuel cell,

the power density is higher than that of the Pt/C cathode at
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60 C.123 However, the power densities become similar when the contrast, in Fig. 8B, the power is observed to keep increasing
operation temperature is 30 C. Ahn et al. found that Pt particles with air ow up to 150 sccm when using Pt/C. Thus it is of vital
in Pt/MC could deposit on two or more ordered carbon nano- importance for practical application of mesoporous catalysts to
rods to share the Naon ionomer and electrolyte, thus less optimize MEA preparation and the operation conditions of
ionomer loading was required. The optimal Naon loading at polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.
the cathode for Pt/MC (10 wt%) is found to be lower than that In most reported studies, better results have been observed
for Pt/C (20 and 30 wt%).58 In direct methanol fuel cells with mesoporous catalysts in fuel cell tests due to their merits as
(DMFCs) at 80 C, Pt/MC assembled in the anode showed shown in Table 4. The Pt or Pt-alloy particles (3 nm) can only
a maximum power density 8% higher than that of Pt/C, but Pt/ be dispersed on the surface of microporous supports (<2 nm in
MC assembled in the cathode even showed slightly lower pore size), which aggregate easily and give rise to low ECSA. In
maximum power density than Pt/C, and its best Naon loading addition, the Naon ionomer fails to enter pores with diameter
was 35%.77 The ow rate of fuels also has different effects on Pt/ smaller than 20 nm, showing poor contact between the metal
MC and Pt/C. Recently Bruno et al. prepared Pt/MC with 5.3 nm nanoparticles and the Naon ionomer.125,126 In contrast, the
Pt particle size, which is 25% smaller than that of Pt/C (Vulcan adequate pore size of mesoporous supports leads to more Pt
carbon).124 When Pt/MC and Pt/C are used as cathode catalysts, dispersion and fuels accessible in mesopores.126 Pt particles in
the maximum power density of DMFCs reaches 30 mW cm2 the mesopores could share the Naon ionomer and fuels, thus
and 16 mW cm2 respectively when air was used at the cathode. less ionomer loading was required.58 The H2O produced by
They found that although mesoporous catalysts could reduce electrochemical reactions can easily transfer from the catalyst
the mass transport losses promoting the water transportation, layer to the gas diffusion layer with less space occupied by the
they would also promote the drying out of the MEA at high ow ionomer. Thus the mesoporous structure is favourable for mass
rates. As shown in Fig. 8A, the highest power is achieved at 100 transport in the catalyst layer.126,127 On the anode side, when
sccm air ow, and the power will reduce as the air ow increases assembled with PtRu/C, the maximum power density of DMFC
to 150 sccm when using Pt/MC as the cathode catalyst. In reaches 17 W gPt1 (34 mW cm2) and 26 W gPt1 (61 mW cm2)
Fig. 8 Polarization and power curves at different air flows for (A) Pt/mesoporous carbon and (B) Pt/Vulcan carbon at 60 C and 1 M methanol as
an anode fuel. Reproduced with permission from ref. 124. Copyright 2015, Elsevier.
Table 4 Comparisons between mesoporous catalysts and traditional carbon supported Pt (Pt alloys) applied in fuel cell electrodes
Mesoporous catalysts Traditional carbon supported Pt (Pt alloys)
Pt dispersion Uniform with high specic area Easy to aggregate

Mass transport of fuels Good access to fuels due to adequate pore sizes Pore size too small to obtain adequate fuels,
and volumes pore space tends to be lled with H2O to slow
down mass transport
MEA preparation Applicable to alkaline and acidic membranes, Applicable to alkaline and acidic membranes,
less ionomer loading required normally 20–40 wt% of ionomer loading
Durability Enhanced thermal, chemical and mechanical Degeneration of carbon black, not tolerant to
stability, tolerant to methanol crossover methanol crossover
(heteroatom doped carbon)
Price Cost-effective, noble-metal-free High price due to the use of noble metals
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at 30 C and 60 C respectively.59 It increases to 31 W gPt1 small metallic nanoparticle dispersion and (6) strong corro-
(40 mW cm2) at 30 C and 45 W gPt1 (67 mW cm2) at 60 C sion resistance. As a result, mesoporous electrocatalysts have
when assembled with PtRu/MC, attributing to the fast oxidation shown better performance than commercial Pt/C. However,
rate and enhanced mass transport of methanol with meso- mesoporous anode catalysts without noble metals and meso-
porous catalysts. Song et al. reported that ultrane porous porous catalysts for nitrogen-containing fuel oxidation have
carbon ber (with pores in the range of 5–30 nm diameter) can not been intensively studied. It was found that Pt-based cata-
be formed in a straightforward manner aer the carbon ber is lysts are easily poisoned by the adsorbed Nads, and thus limits
oxidized at 280 C and subsequently carbonized at 1400 C.128 the current density and service life.129–131 As mesoporous
Carbon ber is prepared via electro-spinning of poly- catalysts have demonstrated both activity and CO-tolerance
acrylonitrile/polymethyl methacrylate (PAN/PMMA) blend solu- improvement, they may also be considered as noble metal free
tion on aluminium foil. Platinum supported on this carbon ber and Nads-tolerant catalyst anode materials for fuel cells in the
makes the power density 1.25 times higher than that of future.
commercial Pt/C in single fuel cell tests at room temperature. On
the cathode side, mesoporous carbon doped with heteroatoms
or Fe and Co has shown better performance in fuel cells than Pt/ Acknowledgements
C.86,100,109 Mesoporous carbon doped with Fe and N achieves
The authors thank the EPSRC Supergen fuel cell project (EP/
a power density of 227 mW cm2 in an anion-exchange-
G030995/1) for funding. One of the authors (Xu) gratefully
membrane based alkaline methanol fuel cell, which is higher
acknowledges the China Scholarship Council (CSC) for nan-
than the 195 mW cm2 achieved from Pt/C.100 Wan et al. re-
cial support.
ported that the N-doped mesoporous carbon exhibited twice
higher power density of DMFC than Pt/C.109 The reason was not
only that N-doped mesoporous carbon showed higher ORR References
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Recent progress in electrocatalysts with

mesoporous structures for application in polymer

electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Wei Xu,ab Zucheng Wub and Shanwen Tao*ac

MEA is reported to be accounting for about 35–50% of the cost

Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A

2.1 Metallic mesoporous electrocatalysts

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review

are mainly focused on MSMMs according to published reports.

tages. First, carbon black is susceptible to corrosion caused by

electrochemical oxidation.44,45 Second, the size of micropores

Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review

Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Table 1 A summary of properties of various mesoporous supports

Sb–SnO2 216.7 m2 g1 6.53 nm 0.276 cm3 g1 0.202 S cm1 72

WC/carbon 409 m2 g1 5.0 nm 0.47 cm3 g1 — 68

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review

toward ORR.93–96 In addition, Co based catalysts are remarkably

polarization curves at 0.9 V is 9.1 mA mgPt1 for Pt/CrN and

3.3 Metal-free mesoporous electrocatalysts

Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Centred pore Specic surface ORR onset

carbon (Black Pearl 2000), and 1.5 to

3.0 mA cm2 for Fe–N/OMC (depending

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review

Review Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Review

exhibits an ORR onset potential close to that of Pt/C, and its

N: 4.51 (6.38) wt%; S: 4.12 (6.38) wt%

N/C (%): 2.5–26; S/C (%): 0.7–3.1

N: 4.5 at% and S: 2.0 at%

N: 2.97 wt%; S: 0.89 wt%

N: 6.53 wt%; S: 2.88 wt%

fabricated from the pyrolysis of worst weed (Eclipta prostrata).122

compounds of worst weed. The as-prepared tri-doped carbon

consists of mesopores with diameter from 5 to 30 nm and

four-electron ORR in comparison with the Pt/C catalyst.

heteroatoms doped mesoporous carbon, which can largely

aﬀect the catalytic activity as well as the number of electrons

Modied Hummers method, colloidal

because of the diﬀerent carbon and heteroatom precursors

silica template and pyrolysis, 900 C

used.64,109,111,115–117,119,121 If the pyrolysis temperature is too low,

Mesoporous silica template and

Mesoporous silica template and

the carbon sheath will not be adequately graphitized, thus the

and pyrolysis, 900 C

in the as-prepared mesoporous carbon will decrease due to the

low heteroatom doping level (density). Besides, the specic

surface area and pore volume of mesoporous carbon are also

substitute for the commercial Pt/C catalyst with enhanced ORR

4. Fuel cell performance using

Although many studies reported the superior performance of

contact with fuels. In fuel cell electrodes, liquid or gas fuels

need to pass through the diﬀusion layer to reach the catalyst