I am curious why industry prefer to use activated carbon supported Pt nanoparticles instead of use pure Pt nanoparticles. What is the role of activated carbon? Does the carbon prevent aggregation of Pt particles?
The activated carbon is used to lover the mass loading of the platinum, it is suitable to attach the catalyst to membrane, to obtain the good electric contact between platinum particles, to increase specific surface area of the electrode necessary for gas flow (current densities are as high as 1 to 2 A/cm2)! etc,
I think I can help answer this. I agree with Branimir N. Grgur about reducing the Pt loading, maintaining electric contact between Pt particles and the current collector to the external circuit, and increasing the specific surface area by preventing Pt particle agglomeration.
I'd like to highlight the importance of the porous structure of the carbon since in my research, I have found activated carbon, though its very high surface area (up to 1000 m2/g), its small pore size (