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research article

Interior Morphology and Pore Structure in High Surface Area Carbon Catalyst Supports

Girod, Robin  
•
Tileli, Vasiliki  
June 4, 2025
Advanced Energy Materials

In proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the interior porosity of the standard high surface area carbon (HSC) supports anchors and shields catalysts, offering benefits in performance and durability. Yet, these carbons also add mass transport resistance. This delicate tradeoff relies on their interior diffusion pathways, which are difficult to fully characterize and remain poorly understood. Here, the multiscale morphology of HSCs is reported using full-range electron tomography, resolving features down to single carbon planes. It is found that the supports typically feature a core-shell morphology with large central pores and compact shell in which pores are slit-shaped and sub-nm in size, while entry points are 7-8 & Aring; in diameter and are rarely in close proximity to Pt catalysts. This remarkably resolved structural landscape reveals that O-2 diffusion pathways in HSCs are narrower and longer than previously assumed, indicating the critical value of the carbon support redesign for optimizing cell performance.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/aenm.202500400
Web of Science ID

WOS:001502130600001

Author(s)
Girod, Robin  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Tileli, Vasiliki  

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

Date Issued

2025-06-04

Publisher

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH

Published in
Advanced Energy Materials
Subjects

carbon catalyst supports

•

diffusion pathways

•

full-range electron tomography

•

proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
INE  
FunderFunding(s)Grant NumberGrant URL

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Frderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung

CRSII5_180335

Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)

Available on Infoscience
June 11, 2025
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/251233
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