Advanced Electrocatalyst Supports for High-Temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells: A Comprehensive Review of Materials, Degradation Mechanisms, and Performance Metrics

作者：Qingqing Liu, Huiyuan Liu, Weiqi Zhang, Qian Xu, Huaneng Su · 发表于：Catalysts · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3390/catal15090871 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion、Fuel Cells and Related Materials、Advanced battery technologies research

High-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) offer distinct advantages over their low-temperature counterparts. However, their commercial viability is significantly hampered by durability challenges stemming from electrocatalyst support degradation in the corrosive phosphoric acid environment. This review provides a comprehensive analysis of advanced strategies to overcome this critical durability issue. Two main research directions are explored. The first involves engineering more robust carbon-based materials, including graphitized carbons, carbon nanostructures (nanotubes and graphene), and heteroatom-doped carbons, which enhance stability by modifying the carbon’s intrinsic structure and surface chemistry. The second direction focuses on replacing carbon entirely with intrinsically stable non-carbonaceous materials. These include metal oxides (e.g., TiO2, SnO2), transition metal carbides (e.g., WC, TiC), and nitrides (e.g., Nb4N5). For these non-carbon materials, a key focus is on overcoming their typically low electronic conductivity through strategies such as doping and the formation of multi-component composites. The analysis benchmarks the performance and durability of these advanced supports, concluding that rationally designed composite materials, which combine the strengths of different material classes, represent the most promising path toward developing next-generation, long-lasting catalysts for HT-PEMFCs.