Carbon Nanofiber Paper Electrodes Based on Heterocyclic Polymers for High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

Abstract

Different polyheteroarylenes, such as m ‐polybenzimidazole, polyphenylene oxide, polymer of intrinsic microporosity (PIM‐1) and poly(N‐phenylene‐benzimidazole) were electrospun to obtain self‐supporting polymer nanofiber mats. The mats after heat treatment, which contains stabilization in air at 250–350 °C and pyrolysis at 900–1000 °C under vacuum, convert into carbon nanofiber paper, a material which is suitable for Pt nanoparticle deposition. The possibility of usage of the obtained carbonized nanocomposites as entire gas diffusion electrodes for high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell is shown.