Electrochemical catalytic activity for the hydrogen oxidation of mesoporous WO₃ and WO₃/C composites

New catalysts for hydrogen oxidation, mesoporous WO₃ and WO₃/C composites, have been synthesized by a simple one-step casting method using mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as hard template. The materials were characterized with XRD, XPS, TEM and N₂ sorption techniques. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and single cell test for hydrogen oxidation were adopted to characterize the electrochemical performance of the materials. The mesoporous WO₃ has a high surface area of 86 m² g^-1 and a well-crystallized framework. This material exhibits stable electrochemical activity for hydrogen desorption/oxidation in half-cell experiments, and after mixing with the appropriate amount of carbon black the resultant mesostructured WO₃/C composites show further enhanced electrocatalytic activity and even higher hydrogen oxidation/reduction peak currents than the commercial catalyst 20 wt% Pt/C. The single cell test results indicate that the mesostructured WO₃/C composites have clear current output in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) and exhibit electrochemical catalytic activity toward hydrogen oxidation, and appears to be a potential anode catalyst in PEMFCs.