Method for Synthesizing Metal Catalysts with Carbon Shells Using Metal Complexes

Highly Durable Carbon-Shell Fuel Cell Catalyst Based on Metal-Ligand Complex Heat Treatment

This technology synthesizes catalysts with metal cores encased in carbon shells by mixing metal precursors with ligands to form complexes, which are then isolated, supported on a substrate, and heat-treated to carbonize the ligands. Synthesis, loading, and coating occur in a single reactor without additional chemical additives like reducing or polymerizing agents.

Pt/C catalysts in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) suffer from poor durability due to carbon support corrosion, leading to platinum detachment or agglomeration. Existing methods for creating carbon-shell catalysts are complex and multi-staged, and using platinum precursors with aniline monomers often results in contamination from unreacted monomers and polyaniline.

This technology ensures the ligand reacts only with the metal precursor, forming a selective and uniform carbon layer on the catalyst metal. The coating isolates metal particles to prevent agglomeration. With a single separation step, process costs are significantly reduced. When using platinum, it can be applied to oxygen reduction reaction catalysts in PEMFC cathodes and other electrochemical reactions, improving platinum efficiency and lowering fuel cell costs.

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Key Features:

• Mixing ligands and metal precursors to form metal-ligand complexes without additional chemical additives
• Isolating and collecting the complexes, then mixing them with a support and solvent to load the complexes onto the support
• Heat-treating the support and metal-ligand complex composite at 400°C to 1000°C in a nitrogen or ammonia gas atmosphere
• Using metal salts containing at least one of Pt, Pd, Ag, Au, Ni, Co, Fe, Ir, or Ru as precursors, and applying aniline-based or bipyridine-based ligands

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This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy for the development of eco-friendly batch plating technology for 12-layer multi-flexible PCB wiring in wearable devices.

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