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1D PtCo nanowires as catalysts for PEMFCs with low Pt loading

一维PtCo纳米线作为低Pt负载PEMFC的催化剂

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Abstract

The high cost of platinum (Pt)-group metal (PGM)-based catalysts used in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) poses a critical roadblock to their widespread adoption. Although using low PGM loading PEMFCs can largely address this challenge, high current density performance will be severely compromised consequently. To overcome this dilemma, we report the development of ultra-thin platinum-cobalt nanowires (PtCoNWs) as the cathode catalysts for ultralow Pt loading and high-performance membrane electrode assembly (MEA). The PtCoNWs delivered a record-high mass activity (MA) of 1.06 ± 0.14 AmgPt−1 of Pt-alloy catalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in MEA, yielding an impressive total Pt utilization of 5.14 WratedmgPt−1. The PtCoNWs retained a respectable end-of-life MA of 0.45 A mgPt−1 after the 30,000 cycles square-wave accelerated stability test, which is still above the Department of Energy 2020 beginning-of-life target for catalysts. In-situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy studies suggest that the high degree of alloying in the PtCoNWs stabilizes the ultrathin structure and may contribute to the high ORR activity and power density performance in PEMFC.

摘要

质子交换膜燃料电池(PEMFC)中使用的高成本铂族金属(PGM)催化剂阻碍了其广泛应用. 尽管使用低铂负载量的燃料电池可以很大程度克服这一挑战, 但是电池的高电流密度性能将因此严重降低. 为了克服这一两难困境, 我们报道了超细铂钴纳米线(PtCoNWs)作为超低铂负载和高性能膜电极组件(MEA)阴极催化剂的开发. PtCoNWs在MEA中的氧还原反应(ORR)展现出1.06 ± 0.14 A mgPt−1的破纪录的高质量活性(MA), 因此获得了5.14 W ratemgPt−1的极佳的铂利用率. 在30,000次方波加速稳定性测试(AST)后, PtCoNW保持了0.45 A mgPt−1的可观的终止寿命(EOL)质量活性, 仍高于美国能源部2020年催化剂寿命开始(BOL)目标. 原位X射线吸收光谱(XAS)研究表明, PtCoNWs中的高度合金化稳定了超细结构, 并可能有助于PEMFC中的高ORR活性和功率密度性能.

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Acknowledgements

Huang Y, Jia Q, and Duan X acknowledge the support from the Office of Naval Research (N000141812155). Huang Y acknowledges the support from the National Science Foundation (DMREF 1437263). This research used beamline 6-BM of the National Synchrotron Light Source II, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Brookhaven National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-SC0012704. The authors acknowledge the use of facilities and instrumentation at the UC Irvine Materials Research Institute (IMRI), which is supported in part by the National Science Foundation through the UC Irvine Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-2011967). The authors also acknowledge the Electron Imaging Center of Nanomachines at CNSI, UC Los Angeles for TEM support.

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Jin Huang  (黄进), Bosi Peng  (彭博思), Zeyan Liu  (刘泽延), Ao Zhang  (张翱), Yang Liu  (刘洋), Zipeng Zhao  (赵紫鹏) & Yu Huang  (黄昱)

  2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Bosi Peng  (彭博思) & Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋)

  3. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Thomas Stracensky & Qingying Jia  (贾晴鹰)

  4. Irvine Materials Research Institute, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Mingjie Xu  (徐明杰)

  5. Department of Materials Science, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA

    Mingjie Xu  (徐明杰)

  6. California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋) & Yu Huang  (黄昱)

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  1. Jin Huang  (黄进)
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Contributions

Huang Y supervised the project. Huang J and Peng B designed and performed the experiments. Stracensky T and Jia Q performed the XAS characterization. Xu M helped with the STEM characterization. Liu Z and Zhao Z helped with the MEA measurement. Liu Y and Zhang A helped with the synthesis of catalysts. Huang J, Peng B, and Huang Y wrote and revised the manuscript. All authors reviewed and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Huang  (黄昱).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Jin Huang received his B.Eng. degree from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in 2016. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) under Prof. Yu Huang’s supervision. His research is focused on the catalysis for energy conversion.

Bosi Peng received her BS degree from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University in 2017. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the UCLA under the supervision of Prof. Yu Huang and Prof. Xiangfeng Duan. Her research interests include electrocatalysis for clean energy conversion.

Yu Huang is currently a full professor and chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the UCLA. Her research centers around mechanistic understanding of nanoscale phenomena and exploiting the unique properties of nanoscale materials for various applications including materials synthesis, catalysis, fuel cells, biomedical and device applications.

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Huang, J., Peng, B., Stracensky, T. et al. 1D PtCo nanowires as catalysts for PEMFCs with low Pt loading. Sci. China Mater. 65, 704–711 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-021-1777-x

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