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Highly active PtCo nanoparticles on hierarchically ordered mesoporous carbon support for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

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Abstract

In this work, PtCo nanoparticles (NPs) on hierarchically ordered mesoporous carbon (PtCo/OMC) are synthesized for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) aiming to improve the activity and durability of the Pt-based catalyst towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Specifically, the OMC is prepared through a solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method by using a triblock copolymer PEO-PPO-PEO as the structure agent, followed by annealing in the nitrogen atmosphere to decompose the structure agent and to carbonize the carbon precursor. PtCo nanoparticles (NPs) are fabricated with an average diameter of 3.3 nm by H2 reduction and galvanic replacement in an acid solution, and then are uniformly dispersed onto the OMC via impregnation. The typical mesoporous structure of the OMC enhances the uniformly distribution and thermal stability of the small-sized PtCo NPs. The activity and the durability of the as-prepared PtCo/OMC catalyst are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and single-cell test. In the electrochemical tests, PtCo/OMC exhibits a high ECSA value of 88.56 m2g−1, and a ECSA retention of 77.5% after 5000 CV cycles. The results show that the PtCo/OMC catalyst is more active and more stable than the commercial-carbon-supported PtCo catalyst (PtCo/XC-72).

Graphical abstract

PtCo nanoparticles (NPs) on hierarchically ordered mesoporous carbon (PtCo/OMC) are synthesized aiming to improve the activity and stability of the Pt-based catalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Due to the natural mesoporous and graphite-carbon nanostructure of the OMC, the as-prepared PtCo/OMC catalyst is more active and more stable than the PtCo NPs on the commercial Vulcan@ XC-72 support (PtCo/XC-72), showing great potential in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for DNL Cooperation Fund of CAS (DNL180405), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2015A030312007, 2017A030310539 and 2018A050506071), Guangzhou Science and Technology Project (201904010412, 202002030349), and STS Regional Key Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KFJ-STS-QYZD-2021-02-003). And with special thanks to Mr. Liang Zheng and Ms. Wang Xiaoman for the TEM and EDS mapping technique.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hydrogen Production and Utilization Group, Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Yi Yang, Zhida Wang, Yilang Mai, Changqing Guo, Yan Shi, Hongyi Tan, Zhuoxin Lu, Lisha Shen & Changfeng Yan

  2. CAS Key Lab of Renewable Energy, Guangdong Key Lab of New and Renewable Energy Research and Development, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Yi Yang, Zhida Wang, Yilang Mai, Changqing Guo, Yan Shi, Hongyi Tan, Zhuoxin Lu, Lisha Shen & Changfeng Yan

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, China

    Yi Yang, Yilang Mai & Changfeng Yan

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  1. Yi Yang
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Yang, Y., Wang, Z., Mai, Y. et al. Highly active PtCo nanoparticles on hierarchically ordered mesoporous carbon support for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. J Mater Sci 56, 13083–13095 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-021-06159-8

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