Catalysis at carbonized red blood cell for oxygen reduction and its application to polymer electrolyte fuel cells

Abstract

One of the obstacles to widespread use of polymer electrolyte fuel cells is the limitation of Pt reserves. In the present study, a catalyst for the cathode was formed from red blood cells, a large amount of which are discarded as waste at present. The heat-treatment in flowing argon produced a carbonized material with highly-developed micropores. The specific surface area reached 883m2g-1 at the optimized carbonization conditions. Catalysis at the carbonized material for cathodic oxygen reduction was investigated using rotating disk electrodes (RDE), forming a layer from the material and the polymer electrolyte on the electrode surface and immersing the layer in oxygen-saturated perchloric acid. The carbonized materials showed the catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction and the activity increased with an increase in the micropore development, which might increase the number of active sites exposed to the pore surface and efficiency of the each sites. A fuel cell was formed by applying the most active carbonized material in the RDE measurements to the cathode. Although the performance was inferior to a conventional fuel cell using a Pt catalyst, the current generation at the fuel cell using the carbonized red cell was confirmed.