Self-organized macroporous carbon structure derived from phenolic resin via spray pyrolysis for high-performance electrocatalyst.

The synthesis and evaluation of porous carbon derived from phenolic resin using a fast and facile spray pyrolysis method has been studied for use as a new electrocatalyst support material. By adding polystyrene latex nanoparticles as a template to the phenolic resin precursor, self-organized macroporous carbon structure was first developed. The mass ratio of phenolic resin to PSL at 0.625 gave the optimum porous morphology. Pt nanoparticles (∼20 wt %) were grown on the carbon surface using a standard industrial impregnation method. Well-dispersed Pt nanoparticles of average size 3.91 nm were observed on the surface of porous carbon particles. The high catalytic performance of porous Pt/C electrocatalyst was confirmed by the high mass activity and electrochemically active surface area, which were 450.81 mA mg(-1)-Pt and 81.78 m(2) g(-1)-Pt, respectively. The porous Pt/C catalyst obtains two times higher mass activity than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst and performs excellent durability under acid conditions.