Novel mesoporous carbon ceramics composites as electrodes for direct methanol fuel cell

In this work, a new family of materials for electrodes of direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is presented. Mesoporous carbon ceramics (MCCs) are obtained by the addition of commercial graphite into the synthesis gel of SBA-15 mesoporous silica with SiO₂/C weight ratios of 1/1 and 1/3. X-ray diffraction confirms both the formation of organized silica and the presence of graphite, and nitrogen physisorption measurements show that the presence of a graphitic phase does not interfere in the silica pore diameter although it diminishes the surface area. The MCCs modified with Pt or PtRu are tested as DMFC electrodes and compared with the commercial support Vulcan XC-72R. When used as cathode, the system using MCC-SBA-15 with SiO₂/C weight ratios of 1/1 presents a negligible performance, while the MCC-SBA-15 with SiO₂/C weight ratios of 1/3 is 2.9 times less active than the commercial support. On the other side, when used as anode, the MCC-SBA-15 with SiO₂/C weight ratios of 1/3 displays performances comparable to Vulcan XC-72R.