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Platinum nanoparticle synthesis in engineered organic nanoscale reactors for efficient oxygen electro-reduction in alkaline conditions

  • Advanced Catalytic Materials: Nano and Bulk Research Letter
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Abstract

We have designed a polymer, hc-TBtd-COP incorporating a Wurster-type redox-active building unit for the in situ reduction and nucleation of platinum nanoparticles which forms an organic polymer-wrapped metal nanoparticle composite. This composite exhibits exceptional mass activity (MA) (about 5 times larger than 20% Pt/C at 0.9 V vs. RHE) and specific activity (SA) (approximately 2 times larger than 20% Pt/C at 0.9 V vs. RHE) for the oxygen reduction reaction. The efficient electrocatalysis results from higher catalytic site dispersion and superior atom utilization efficiency. This research contributes to the advancement of composite materials for enhanced electrocatalytic performance.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported as part of the Center for Alkaline Based Energy Solutions (CABES), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under Award # DE-SC0019445. We would also like to acknowledge the financial support from NSF for the acquisition of the XPS equipment (NSF/CHEM 2216473) and the support from the XPS Surface Characterization Facility at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Funding

Center for Alkaline Based Energy Solutions (CABES), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under Award # DE-SC0019445.

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Author notes

  1. Subhajit Bhunia and Suzatra Chatterjee have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, 79968, USA

    Subhajit Bhunia, Suzatra Chatterjee & Carlos R. Cabrera

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  1. Subhajit Bhunia
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SB and CRC performed the conception and design of this paper. SB and SC performed experiments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Carlos R. Cabrera.

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Bhunia, S., Chatterjee, S. & Cabrera, C.R. Platinum nanoparticle synthesis in engineered organic nanoscale reactors for efficient oxygen electro-reduction in alkaline conditions. MRS Communications (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43579-024-00547-2

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