Engineering PtCu Alloy Nanoparticles on ZIF-8-Derived N-Doped Carbon for Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction

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The rapid development of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells needs to develop Pt-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with activity and stability. In this study, PtCu alloy nanoparticles were in situ anchored on an N-doped porous carbon (NC) derived from ZIF-8 with a chemical reduction method to produce a PtCu/NC catalyst with a Pt loading of 7.96 wt %. The PtCu alloy nanoparticles are uniformly immobilized on the NC with a high surface area via a metal–support interaction. The electrochemical test results demonstrated that the PtCu/NC catalyst displays remarkable activity with an E1/2 value of 0.913 V vs RHE, higher than 0.878 V vs RHE for the commercial Pt/C. The ORR mass activity of the PtCu/NC catalyst is 1.49 and 6.54 times that of PtCu/XC-72 and commercial Pt/C, respectively. The eminent ORR performance of PtCu/NC is attributed to the high specific area of NC and electron-rich Pt sites enhanced by electron transfer from the N and Cu atoms. Moreover, PtCu/NC exhibited better catalytic stability than PtCu/XC-72 and Pt/C after 3000 potential cycles, attributed to the interaction between the N atom and PtCu alloy.