Spatially Confined Alloying of Pt Accelerates Mass Transport for Fuel Cell Oxygen Reduction

Pt-based alloy with high mass activity and durability is highly desired for proton exchange membrane fuel cells, yet a great challenge remains due to the high mass transport resistance near catalysts with lowering Pt loading. Herein, an extensible approach employing atomic layer deposition to accurately introduce a gas-phase metal precursor into platinum nanoparticles (NPs) pre-filled mesoporous channels is reported, achieved by controlling both the deposition site and quantity. Following the spatially confined alloying treatment, the prepared PtSn alloy catalyst within mesopores demonstrates a small size and homogeneous distribution (2.10 ± 0.53 nm). The membrane electrode assembly with mesoporous carbon-supported PtSn alloy catalyst achieves a high initial mass activity of 0.85 A $$ at 0.9 V, which is attributed to the smallest local oxygen transport resistance (3.68 S m^-1) ever reported. The mass activity of the catalyst only decreases by 11% after 30000 cycles of accelerated durability test, representing superior full-cell durability among the reported Pt-based alloy catalysts. The enhanced activity and durability are attributed to the decreased adsorption energy of oxygen intermediates on Pt surface and the strong electronic interaction between Pt and Sn inhibiting Pt dissolution.