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Synthesis of Platinum-nickel Nanowires and Optimization for Oxygen Reduction Performance
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Low-Coordination Trimetallic PtFeCo Nanosaws for Practical Fuel Cells
Lingzheng Bu1,2, Jiashun Liang3, Fandi Ning4
1State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Fujian, 361005, P. R. China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|December 27, 2022
Summary
New platinum-iron-cobalt nanosaws (Pt3FeCo NSs) significantly boost fuel cell performance. These advanced catalysts show over 25-fold higher oxygen reduction reaction activity and long-term stability for practical fuel cell applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Catalysis
Background:
- Commercialization of fuel cell technology hinges on developing high-performance catalysts.
- Efficient electrocatalysts are crucial for reactions like oxygen reduction (ORR).
- Current catalysts face challenges in activity, selectivity, and durability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To design and evaluate novel trimetallic platinum-iron-cobalt nanosaws (Pt3FeCo NSs) as bifunctional electrocatalysts.
- To investigate the structure-activity relationship for enhanced fuel cell catalysis.
- To assess the performance of Pt3FeCo NSs in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA).
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of 1D trimetallic platinum-iron-cobalt nanosaws (Pt3FeCo NSs).
- Electrochemical testing for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and durability.
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations to understand reaction mechanisms.
- Integration of catalysts into a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for fuel cell testing.
Main Results:
- Pt3FeCo NSs exhibit significantly enhanced ORR activity (>25-fold) compared to commercial Pt/C, with high durability over 30,000 voltage cycles.
- DFT calculations reveal minimized ORR barriers due to inter-d-orbital electron transfer and specific electronic structures.
- A volcano correlation between catalyst structure and electronic activity was identified, highlighting low-coordination Pt-sites.
- MEA testing showed high peak power density (1800.6 mW cm-2) and competitive activities in H2/O2 fuel cells.
Conclusions:
- Pt3FeCo NSs are highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for practical fuel cell catalysis.
- The catalyst design leverages low-coordination sites and electronic properties for superior performance.
- This work introduces a promising class of multimetallic Pt-based nanocatalysts for fuel cells and beyond.
