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.