On the tungsten carbide synthesis for PEM fuel cell application – Problems, challenges and advantages

• Different aspect of PEM fuel cell application of WC are critically examined.
• Tungsten carbide was synthesized using from peroxide/2-propanol derived precursor.
• PEM fuel cell application of WC requires decoration with Pt nanoparticles.
• HOR activity for Pt/WC is not expected to overcome the activity of Pt/C.
• Pt/WC has much higher CO oxidation activity than Pt/C.

Fuel cell application of tungsten carbide is revisited starting with four different tungsten carbide precursors used for high temperature synthesis. It was shown that the final products greatly depend on the nature of the precursor. Using tungsten peroxide/2-propanol derived precursor almost pure WC was obtained which was subjected to further electrochemical investigation. It was shown that it is necessary to decorate WC with Pt nanoparticles in order to obtain satisfactory fuel cell performance, but catalytic activity of Pt/WC anode catalyst is not expected to overcome the activity of Pt/C. It is argued that new synthetic routes for the preparation of WC should be directed towards obtaining highly dispersed WC, that is, WC with high external surface area available for Pt deposition, rather than high specific surface area WC with large contribution of micropores having no importance when it comes to the use of WC as a catalyst support. The true benefit of the use of WC as catalyst support is found in increased CO tolerance/CO oxidation activity of WC-supported Pt catalysts. Qualitative mechanistic view on increased CO oxidation activity of Pt/WC is offered.