Direct integration of ultralow-platinum alloy into nanocarbon architectures for efficient oxygen reduction in fuel cells

Shahid Zaman; Xinlong Tian; Ya-Qiong Su; Weiwei Cai; Ya Yan; Ruijuan Qi; Abdoulkader Ibro Douka; Shenghua Chen; Bo You; Hongfang Liu; Shujiang Ding; Xingpeng Guo; Bao Yu Xia

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2021.07.001

Direct integration of ultralow-platinum alloy into nanocarbon architectures for efficient oxygen reduction in fuel cells

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2021 Nov 15;66(21):2207-2216. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.07.001. Epub 2021 Jul 3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China.
² School of Chemistry, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Sustainable Energy Materials Chemistry, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Nonequilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
³ Sustainable Energy Laboratory, Faculty of Material Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai 200093, China.
⁵ Department of Information Science and Technology, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁶ School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage (Ministry of Education), Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, Hubei Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials and Medical Protective Materials, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 36654112
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.07.001

Abstract

Developing efficient platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalysts is enormously significant for fuel cells. Herein, we report an integrated electrocatalyst of ultralow-Pt alloy encapsulated into nitrogen-doped nanocarbon architecture for efficient oxygen reduction reaction. This hybrid Pt-based catalyst achieves a mass activity of 3.46 A mg_pt^-1 at the potential of 0.9 V vs. RHE with a negligible stability decay after 10,000 cycles. More importantly, this half-cell activity can be expressed at full cell level with a high Pt utilization of 10.22 W mg_Pt^-1_cathode and remarkable durability after 30,000 cycles in single-cell. Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that a highly strained Pt structure with an optimal Pt-O binding energy is induced by the incorporation of Co/Ni into Pt lattice, which would account for the improved reaction kinetics. The synergistic catalysis due to nitrogen-doped nanocarbon architecture and active Pt component is responsible for the enhanced catalytic activity. Meanwhile, the strong metal-support interaction and optimized hydrophilic properties of nanocarbon matrix facilitate efficient mass transport and water management. This work may provide significant insights in designing the low-Pt integrated electrocatalysts for fuel cells and beyond.

Keywords: Electrocatalyst; Fuel cells; Low-platinum alloy; Nanocarbon; Oxygen reduction reaction.