Platinum and Ruthenium nanoparticles decorated multi walled carbon nanotubes as electrodes for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

Multi wall carbon nanotubes were decorated with Platinum (MWCN-Pt) and Ruthenium (MWCN-Ru) nanoparticles. These catalytic metal nanoparticles were grown directly on oxidized surface of carbon nanotubes by reduction of metal precursors. Pt- and Ru-nanoparticles decorated MWCN were used to fabricate the electrodes for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) using Nafion as proton transporting membrane. The fabricated Membrane-Electrode-Assembly (MEA) has been tested for its performance with humidified H2 and O2 as input fuels at room temperature. Active area of the MEAs fabricated is kept constant at 6.25 cm2. Maximum power obtained from PEMFC using MWCN-Pt based electrodes (both anode and cathode) was about 340 mW while the maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) obtained was 0.87 V. PEMFC made using a mixture of MWCN-Pt and MWCN-Ru as electrodes yield maximum power of 225 mW.