2015 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Hierarchically-nanostructured carbon particles for energy resource and storage applications
| Project/Area Number |
15K18257
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| Research Institution | Hiroshima University |
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Principal Investigator |
バルギス ラトナ 広島大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (70731917)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
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| Keywords | nanostructured Pt/C / aerosol process / Phenolic resin / PSL / Self-Organization / Fluid flow model |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Morphological control over hierarchical porous carbon particles was possibly done with the spray pyrolysis process by controlling the charge and size of PSL template particles. The morphology of the prepared particles can be tailored by tuning the attractive or repulsive forces between the phenolic resin as the carbon source and PSL particles. Strong electrostatic attraction between the phenolic resin and highly positively charged PSL formed hollow carbon particles. Weaker attractive force, as in the case of particles with a small positive charge, or repulsions due to negatively charged PSL resulted in porous carbon particles. The size and concentration of PSL particles also determined the final morphology of the carbon particles.
The obtained carbon particles with various morphologies (i.e., dense, hollow, and porous) were fictionalized with the Pt deposition. It was clearly found that the performance of the porous carbon Pt/C catalyst was the best among those of the three types of catalyst, probably because of the presence of interconnected pores, which allowed better oxygen transport to the catalyst surface. Furthermore, the obtained results were confirmed by fluid dynamic simulations, which were analyzed in terms of electrochemical kinetics. These results prove the effectiveness of the fluid dynamic approach in qualitatively estimating the electrocatalytic performance by observing hydrodynamic phenomena within the catalyst layer.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
This year I have successfully developed various controllable morphologies of carbon particles from dense, hollow, into porous spherical particles, completed with more detail morphological variants.
The functionalization of carbon particles as a catalyst supporter for proton exchange membrane fuel cell was also successfully done this year. In my proposal, this research should be done in the second year.
Fluid dynamic simulation to estimate the electrocatalytic performance by observing hydrodynamic phenomena within the catalyst layer was also successfully done.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
1. Further development of hierarchical porous carbon particles for high Pt loading. It is important for mobility reason in the industrial application. Thin PEMFC cell can be made with high Pt loading catalyst.
2. Ultralow Pt loading of carbon-based nanoparticle for catalyst in PEMFC
Morphology control of carbon as a catalyst support gives high impact to the catalytic performance. However, high amount of Pt loading is still necessary to obtain high catalytic performance. As the preferred solution, this topic will be addressed: (i) alloying Pt with inexpensive metal (e.g. Co, Fe, Ni,
etc.); (ii) improve the electron donor behavior of catalyst by nitrogen (N) or boron (B) doping; (iii) use inexpensive and abundant polymer materials for graphitized-carbon source.
3. High conductivity carbon-based material for capacitive energy storage
Electrode material is the key for supercapacitor, and only the surface area that is accessible for electrolyte ions is contribute to charge storage. However, electrode material used at present time has a limitation on their surface area and conductivity. As the preferred solution, this topic will be addressed:(i) Graphitized hollow and porous carbon from polymers, in which, can be obtained by controlling the charge of template (i.e. anion or cation). The controlled morphology of electrode ensure electrochemically accessible for ions. (ii) Carbon-based composite materials such as metal oxide (RuO2, MnO2, SiO2, TiO, and Al2O3)/carbon.
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| Causes of Carryover |
Some amount of fund will be used in the next fiscal year because I need to buy a various chemicals for the experiments in the next fiscal year
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| Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
1. Buy a various chemicals such as various organometal compounds to synthesize metal/C composites.
2. Set up good sealing small furnace, to protect the metal catalyst from oxidation.
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| Remarks |
I have created various URLs to introduce and disseminate my results to society
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