Multi‐Heteroatom Doped Carbon Support With Pt 2 CuFe Intermetallic Catalysts for High‐Performance PEM Fuel Cells

ABSTRACT Proton exchange membrane fuel cells face commercialization barriers due to the high cost, insufficient activity, and stability of Pt‐based catalysts, especially for the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Pt‐based intermetallic compounds (IMCs) offer improved activity and stability but require high‐temperature synthetic conditions (> 600°C), which inevitably causes nanoparticle aggregation and consequent reduction in active surface area. Here, we develop a facile strategy via immersion‐pyrolysis reduction to construct a multi‐heteroatom (Pt, Cu, Fe, Cr, S, and N) doped carbon (MHC) supported Pt 2 CuFe IMC catalyst. The MHC enhances the metal‐support interaction, thereby anchoring Pt 2 CuFe clusters during pyrolysis even at 800°C to form highly ordered Pt 2 CuFe IMC with small sizes (∼2.2 nm). As a result, the catalyst shows an excellent ORR mass activity of 2.07 A mg Pt −1 with 64% retention after 40,000 voltage cycles. Membrane electrode assembly studies demonstrate a peak power density of 1.29 W cm −2 (H 2 ‐Air) with only 25 mV voltage loss at 0.8 A cm −2 .