Niobium-doped titanium oxide for fuel cell application

High surface area niobium-doped titanium oxide catalyst supports were synthesized through a chemical method using nano-sized polystyrene (PS) latex as a template. By varying the concentration of template with respect to titania and niobium precursors, we were able to produce niobium-doped titanium oxides with surface areas of 75–115 m2/g and sufficient electrical conductance to function as fuel cell catalyst supports. The oxides were subsequently platinized and evaluated as oxygen reduction catalysts using a rotating disk electrode. One of the samples showed a mass activity of 0.16 A/mgPt and a specific activity of 170 μA/cm2Pt at 900 mV, which are comparable to our benchmark Pt/C electrocatalyst.