Preparation of onion-like Pt-terminated Pt-Cu bimetallic nano-sized electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells

Abstract

Onion-like Pt-terminated Pt-Cu bimetallic nano-sized electrocatalysts (Pt/Cu/Pt/C) were synthesized by using an electroless deposition method. The synthesized Pt/Cu/Pt/C consisted of a Pt-enriched shell, a sandwiched Pt-Cu alloy layer, and a Pt core. The Pt/Cu/Pt/C showed higher electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction in half-cell test than that of commercial Pt/C due to an electronic structure change in the Pt-enriched shell, resulting from the sandwiched Pt-Cu alloy layer underneath. The stability of the Pt/Cu/Pt/C was examined by using both half-cell and single-cell degradation tests. In both tests, the Pt/Cu/Pt/C exhibited stronger resistance to catalyst degradation than that of the commercial Pt/C. It is notable that cell performance with the Pt/Cu/Pt/C was fully recovered by N-2 purging after single-cell degradation testing, indicating there was no permanent damage to the electrocatalyst during the test. It is suggested that thermodynamically-stable structure of the Pt/Cu/Pt/C contributed to the improved stability. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.