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Ordered Intermetallic PtCu Catalysts Made from Pt@Cu Core/Shell Structures for Oxygen Reduction Reaction.
Xuxu Ye1, Ru-Yang Shao1, Peng Yin1
1School of Chemistry and Materials Sciences, Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Inorganic Chemistry
|September 12, 2022
Summary
A new core/shell nanoparticle strategy enables lower-temperature synthesis of highly ordered platinum-copper (PtCu) catalysts for efficient oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) in fuel cells.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Platinum-based ordered intermetallic compounds are key catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions (ORR) in fuel cells.
- Conventional synthesis requires high temperatures, leading to catalyst sintering and reduced activity.
- Developing lower-temperature synthesis methods is crucial for high-performance fuel cells.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel strategy for synthesizing highly ordered PtCu intermetallic catalysts at lower temperatures.
- To investigate the effect of a core/shell nanoparticle structure on catalyst ordering and ORR activity.
- To establish a correlation between catalyst ordering degree and catalytic performance.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of Pt@Cu core/shell nanoparticles via Pt-assisted H2 reduction of Cu2+.
- Annealing of Pt@Cu nanoparticles at temperatures ranging from 500-1000 °C.
- Comparison with catalysts prepared using the wet-impregnation method.
Main Results:
- The core/shell strategy enabled the formation of ordered PtCu alloys at a lower annealing temperature (500 °C) compared to conventional methods.
- Pt@Cu core/shell catalysts exhibited higher ordering degrees due to inhibited Cu diffusion.
- The synthesized PtCu catalysts showed enhanced mass activity and specific activity for ORR.
- A positive correlation was found between the ORR activity and the ordering degree of PtCu nanoparticles.
Conclusions:
- The Pt@Cu core/shell nanoparticle strategy offers an effective route for synthesizing highly ordered PtCu catalysts at reduced temperatures.
- This method overcomes the limitations of high-temperature annealing, preventing sintering and improving catalytic performance.
- The findings highlight the importance of catalyst ordering for enhancing ORR activity in fuel cells.
