The Synthesis of Highly Durable Pt-Based Hollow Nanocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Platinum (Pt) catalysts have been considered as the most active electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells. However, cost and durability of Pt catalysts are the biggest obstacles impeding their practical applications. In this talk, the combination of Pt ion-treatment and acid-treatment methods is developed to prepare Pt-based hollow nanocatalysts. Catalytic results indicated the ORR performance of our Pt-Ni nanocatalysts far exceed that of commercial Pt/C electrocatalysts, in terms of mass-specific activities it is up to a 19-fold increase than that of Pt/C and 6 times than that of Department of Energy requirement (0.44 A/mg Pt ). The performance loss of Pt-Ni is negligible even after a prolonged durability test of 300,000 cycles. The in-situ spectroelectrochemical results and theoretical simulation further explain the catalytic mechanism and such excellent durability. We believe our method provides an effective strategy for the rational design of Pt-based alloy nanostructures and will help guide the future development of catalysts for their practical applications in energy conversion technologies.