Atomically dispersed Pt and Fe sites and Pt–Fe nanoparticles for durable proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Fei Xiao, Qi Wang, Gui Liang Xu, Xueping Qin, Inhui Hwang, Cheng Jun Sun, Min Liu, Wei Hua, Hsi wen Wu, Shangqian Zhu, Jin Cheng Li, Jian Gan Wang, Yuanmin Zhu, Duojie Wu, Zidong Wei, Meng Gu, Khalil Amine, Minhua Shao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

195 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity without emissions. The high cost and low durability of Pt-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction hinder their wide application, and the development of non-precious metal electrocatalysts is limited by their low performance. Here we design a hybrid electrocatalyst that consists of atomically dispersed Pt and Fe single atoms and Pt–Fe alloy nanoparticles. Its Pt mass activity is 3.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C in a fuel cell. More importantly, the fuel cell with a low Pt loading in the cathode (0.015 mgPt cm−2) shows an excellent durability, with a 97% activity retention after 100,000 cycles and no noticeable current drop at 0.6 V for over 200 hours. These results highlight the importance of the synergistic effects among active sites in hybrid electrocatalysts and provide an alternative way to design more active and durable low-Pt electrocatalysts for electrochemical devices. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)503-512
Number of pages10
JournalNature Catalysis
Volume5
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022
Externally publishedYes

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