Abstract

Advanced electrocatalysts with low platinum content, high activity and durability for the oxygen reduction reaction can benefit the widespread commercial use of fuel cell technology. Here, we report a platinum-trimer decorated cobalt-palladium core-shell nanocatalyst with a low platinum loading of only 2.4 wt% for the use in alkaline fuel cell cathodes. This ternary catalyst shows a mass activity that is enhanced by a factor of 30.6 relative to a commercial platinum catalyst, which is attributed to the unique charge localization induced by platinum-trimer decoration. The high stability of the decorated trimers endows the catalyst with an outstanding durability, maintaining decent electrocatalytic activity with no degradation for more than 322,000 potential cycles in alkaline electrolyte. These findings are expected to be useful for surface engineering and design of advanced fuel cell catalysts with atomic-scale platinum decoration.

Fuel cells are promising for converting fuel into electricity, but rely on development of high-performance catalysts for oxygen reduction. Here the authors report a highly durable platinum-trimer decorated cobalt-palladium catalyst with low platinum loading for electrocatalysis of oxygen reduction.

Details

Title
Platinum-trimer decorated cobalt-palladium core-shell nanocatalyst with promising performance for oxygen reduction reaction
Author
Dai Sheng 1 ; Chou Jyh-Pin 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kuan-Wen, Wang 3 ; Yang-Yang, Hsu 4 ; Hu, Alice 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Pan Xiaoqing 5 ; Tsan-Yao, Chen 6 

1  University of California, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Irvine, USA (GRID:grid.266093.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0668 7243) 
2  City University of Hong Kong, Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Kowloon, Hong Kong (GRID:grid.35030.35) (ISNI:0000 0004 1792 6846) 
3  National Central University, Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Taoyuan, Taiwan (GRID:grid.37589.30) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3167) 
4  National Tsing Hua University, Department of Engineering and System Science, Hsinchu, Taiwan (GRID:grid.38348.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 0580) 
5  University of California, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Irvine, USA (GRID:grid.266093.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0668 7243); University of California, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Irvine, USA (GRID:grid.266093.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0668 7243); University of California, Irvine Materials Research Institute (IMRI), Irvine, USA (GRID:grid.266093.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 0668 7243) 
6  National Tsing Hua University, Department of Engineering and System Science, Hsinchu, Taiwan (GRID:grid.38348.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 0580); National Tsing Hua University, Institute of Nuclear Engineering and Science, Hsinchu, Taiwan (GRID:grid.38348.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 0580); National Tsing Hua University, Higher Education Sprout Project, Competitive Research Team, Hsinchu, Taiwan (GRID:grid.38348.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 0580); National Cheng Kung University, Hierarchical Green-Energy Materials Research Center, Tainan, Taiwan (GRID:grid.64523.36) (ISNI:0000 0004 0532 3255) 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Jan 2019
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08323-w
ProQuest document ID
2171188999
Copyright
This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.