Performance analysis of polymer fuel cell based on carbonous nano-electrocatalyst for clean energy

Abstract

It is vital to develop the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in electrocatalysts that promote renewable energy conversion and storage aspirations. The synergistic effect of binary alloys and substrate causes the superior performance of nanocomposite (onset, half-wave potentials, and diffusion current density of 0.020, −0.083 V versus Ag/AgCl and 6 mA cm⁻², respectively) as a catalyst for ORR in basic environments. Data indicates that the modified meso/macro pore structure (nanocomposite) enhances active site accessibility and ion and oxygen mass transport, boosting catalyst ORR performance. Even though micropores provide a vital contribution to sustaining high ORR efficiency by housing the active sites, the importance of meso-macropores in increasing single-cell performance cannot be ignored. The synthesized catalyst demonstrated significantly higher power generation than the benchmark Pt/C in polymer fuel cells. Our breakthrough is that, with a cathode catalyst loading of 2 g m⁻², the FeNi–MoS₂/rGO (denoted as FNM@r) electrocatalyst achieves a peak current density of 5444.3 A m⁻² and a maximum power density of 2290 W m⁻², placing it in the state-of-the-art category for fuel cell applications.