Ordered Mesoporous Carbon/Titanium Carbide Composites as Support Materials for Platinum Catalysts

Ordered mesoporous carbon/titanium carbide composites (OMC/TiC) are synthesized by using Pluronic F127 and titanium isoproxide as the structure-directing agent and titanium precursor. Characterizations confirm the formation of an ordered mesoporous textural structure and the formation of nanocrystals of TiC in the framework of carbon. By using the resultant OMC/TiC as the support material, a platinum catalyst (Pt/OMC/TiC) is then prepared. Electrochemical measurements show that a higher activity for the methanol oxidization reaction and oxygen reduction reaction can be observed for the Pt/OMC/TiC, compared to Pt/OMC and a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The results obtained in the present work suggest that the synthesized OMC/TiC is a promising support material for platinum catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells.