Industrial tea-waste-derived carbon as a support material for Pt/C electrocatalysts in PEM fuel cells

In this work, we report a class of high surface area biomass derived carbon material- (BCMs) obtained from industrial black tea process waste biomass (TW) as a support for synthesis of the nanoparticulate Pt supported on carbon (Pt/C) – a state-of-the-art electrocatalyst used in technologies such as polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells and PEM water electrolyzers. Different BCMs were derived from TW by pyrolysis followed by activation processes. The Pt/C electrocatalysts were synthesized through a microwave assisted polyol process using the derived BCMs as the support and (NH4)2PtCl6 as the Pt precursor. The promising electrochemical surface area (ECSA) of the BCM supported Pt/C samples (with the highest value of the ECSA obtained to be ∼59 m2g−1 in 20 wt% Pt loading) was found to be inferior compared to the equivalent Pt/C supported on the commercial carbons of equivalent surface area. The physicochemical characteristics of the BCM and the synthesized electrocatalysts were determined in detail. The lower performance of the biocarbon based catalyst was clarified to be insufficient electrical conductivity and high surface oxygen group. The study provides an interesting prospective for the use of TW as a sustainable source of carbon for electrocatalysts in the PEM-based industries and perspectives.