Stable Ti Based Support for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

New conductive and stable TiH₂ particles intended for application in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell cathodes were prepared by sonication method in Hexane solution. TiH₂ particles were characterized by Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction, Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) techniques. After sonication process the BET surface area increased from 0.2 g/m² to 0.7 g/m². Good thermal stability of this material at high temperatures in Oxygen atmosphere was shown by Thermal Gravimetric Analysis. The electrochemical stability was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), Linear Sweep voltammetry (LSV) in acid solutions at different gas atmospheres. The sonicated TiH₂ was found to catalyze oxygen reduction reaction in acid solutions possible due to the formation of surface oxide defects. The durability measurements show the sonicated TiH₂ acting as Pt support exhibited superior stability than Vulcan XC-72. High corrosion resistance, thermal stability is identified as properties that have rendered better structural stability for sonicated TiH₂ particles at elevated temperatures.