Uniformly dispersed pt nanoparticles as fuel-cell catalyst supported onto ordered mesoporous carbon-silica composites

Ordered mesoporous carbon-silica composites, were synthesized via direct-templating method using soluble phenolic resins as carbon sources, tetrabutyl orthosilicate as SiO ₂ precursors and triblock copolymer F127 as the structure-directing agent. The structure and the corresponding electrocatalytic activity of carbon-silica composites with various silica contents are systematically investigated. Textual characterization results show that the ordered mesoporous structure of carbon-silica composite with trace SiO ₂ is well preserved. The electrochemical properties of the supported catalysts were studied by cyclic voltammogram, revealing that ordered mesoporous carbon-silica composites as the support possess excellent electrochemical performance for hydrogen oxidation. The electrochemical active surface area of carbon-silica supported Pt nanoparticles can achieve 63.8 m ²/g, which is about 7-fold that of non-silica supported Pt catalyst.