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Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have received extensive attention in electric vehicles and drones because of their high energy and power density. However, the performance of the PEMFCs is limited by the slow kinetic process of cathodic oxygen reduction. It is necessary to develop efficient catalysts with a low cost, high activity, and good electrochemical stability. Pt–M (M = Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, etc.) alloy catalysts are among the top candidates. The lattice of Pt shrinks when charge transfer from M to Pt occurs, which lowers the energy of the d-band of Pt. It not only balances the adsorption and desorption energies of oxygen-containing intermediates but also improves the stability of catalytic sites. In this study, we report a Pt3Co alloy catalyst supported on a N-doped carbon supports. The catalyst exhibits excellent ORR activity and outstanding durability performance as compared with the commercial JM Pt/C catalyst. The half-wave potential before and after accelerated durability testing is more positive, and the mass activity and the specific activity are much higher than the commercial Pt/C in both 0.1 M KOH and 0.1 M HClO4. Besides, the hydrogen evolution reaction performance has also been significantly improved compared to the Pt/C catalyst. This method is simple and feasible, which offers a strategy for the synthesis of high-performance electrocatalysts for PEMFCs.
Xu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.