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Fe@Pt core-shell nanoparticles as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic media

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Abstract

To settle the drawbacks of non-cost-effective and enhance the electrocatalytic performance of Pt/C, Fe@Pt core-shell nanoparticles supported by Vulcan XC-72 have been designed and synthetized successfully. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, whereas the electrochemical analyses were obtained by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, linear sweep voltammetry, and chronoamperometry. Results suggest that the onset potential of oxygen reduction reaction on the Fe@Pt/C is about 0.6 V (vs. Hg/Hg2Cl2) in O2-saturated 0.5 M H2SO4, which shifts positively more than 30 mV compared with that of Pt/C. The corresponding electron transfer number is 4, meaning the reduction reaction mainly occurred through a 4-electron pathway. More importantly, the Fe@Pt/C has an excellent stability and better catalytic performance towards oxygen reduction reaction activity compared with Pt/C. Thus, Fe@Pt/C could be utilized as promising cathode catalysts in proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China through a project entitled “The synthesis of Pt-M/C nanoparticles and construction of non-enzymatic electrochemical biosensor” (Grant No. 21205030) and by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (51402096), and by the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology, 2015-KF-13), and from the Natural Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of Hubei Province of China (2014CFA015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials & Key Laboratory for the Synthesis and Application of Organic Functional Molecules, Ministry of Education & College of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Yanli Huang, Zhan Tan, Huimin Wu & Chuanqi Feng

  2. College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hubei Engineering University, Xiaogan, 432000, China

    Yu Ding

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  1. Yanli Huang
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  2. Zhan Tan
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  3. Huimin Wu
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  4. Chuanqi Feng
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Correspondence to Huimin Wu or Yu Ding.

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Huang, Y., Tan, Z., Wu, H. et al. Fe@Pt core-shell nanoparticles as electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic media. Ionics 24, 229–236 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2186-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2186-7

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