Promotion mechanism of PtCo intermetallic ordered alloys in oxygen reduction reaction and its application in fuel cells

Wei-Cheng Xu; Zhi-Ming Zhang; Cong-Hua Yang; Kuang-Min Zhao; Yucheng Wang; Na Tian; Zhi-You Zhou; Shi-Gang Sun

Electrochemistry Communications (Jul 2023)

Promotion mechanism of PtCo intermetallic ordered alloys in oxygen reduction reaction and its application in fuel cells

Wei-Cheng Xu,
Zhi-Ming Zhang,
Cong-Hua Yang,
Kuang-Min Zhao,
Yucheng Wang,
Na Tian,
Zhi-You Zhou,
Shi-Gang Sun

Affiliations

Wei-Cheng Xu: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Zhi-Ming Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Cong-Hua Yang: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Kuang-Min Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Yucheng Wang: Corresponding authors.; State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Na Tian: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Zhi-You Zhou: Corresponding authors.; State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China
Shi-Gang Sun: State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Tan Kah Kee Innovation Laboratory, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 152
p. 107516

Abstract

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Ordered intermetallic Pt-M alloys are promising as next-generation low-Pt catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) due to the high ORR activity and excellent long-term stability. However, the mechanism behind the enhancement of ORR activity by ordering mostly comes from theoretical calculations, and experimental evidence is very lacking. Herein, we prepared a surface Pt-rich PtCo ordered alloy of about 3 nm in size, which exhibited high ORR catalytic activity, achieving impressive performance of 1.4 W cm−2 @ 0.6 V in H2-air fuel cell and mass activity of 0.62 A mgPt-1 @ 0.9 ViR-free in H2-O2 fuel cell. The key ORR intermediate, adsorbed *O2, was successfully detected by electrochemical in situ infrared spectroscopy. Compared with Pt and disordered PtCo, the ordered PtCo alloy has optimal adsorption interaction with *O2, accelerating the ORR kinetics.

Published in Electrochemistry Communications

ISSN: 1388-2481 (Print); 1873-1902 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Technology: Chemical technology: Industrial electrochemistry; Science: Chemistry
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/electrochemistry-communications

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