Abstract The carbon material mainly used as a support material in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) has a critical limitation—the corrosion reaction of carbon by a water-electrolysis reaction during PEMFC operation. To overcome this corrosion problem, transition metal oxides have recently been proposed as a next-generation support material to replace carbon materials. However, the low electrical conductivity of transition metal oxides leads to a negative effect on the electrochemical performance of PEMFCs. Therefore, in this study, titanium suboxide (TSO) with a crystalline phase of reduced transition metal oxide and high electrical conductivity was synthesized using a combined catalytic and thermal reduction reaction. In particular, the TSO material synthesized at a temperature of 900 °C was confirmed to exhibit a single Ti4O7 phase and electrical conductivity 105–106 times higher than that of bare TiO2. Furthermore, TSO exhibits superior electrochemical durability against corrosion reaction via a water-electrolysis reaction during PEMFC operation.

中文翻译：

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用于质子交换膜燃料电池的具有优异电化学耐久性的高导电性低氧化钛载体材料的合成

摘要 在质子交换膜燃料电池（PEMFCs）中主要用作支撑材料的碳材料有一个关键的限制——在PEMFC运行过程中通过水电解反应对碳进行腐蚀反应。为了克服这种腐蚀问题，最近有人提出过渡金属氧化物作为替代碳材料的下一代载体材料。然而，过渡金属氧化物的低电导率会对 PEMFC 的电化学性能产生负面影响。因此，在本研究中，采用催化和热还原反应相结合的方法合成了具有还原过渡金属氧化物结晶相和高导电性的低氧化钛 (TSO)。特别是，在 900 °C 的温度下合成的 TSO 材料被证实表现出单一的 Ti4O7 相和比裸 TiO2 高 105-106 倍的电导率。此外，TSO 在 PEMFC 操作期间通过水电解反应表现出优异的电化学耐久性，以抵抗腐蚀反应。