Efficient Pt-based nanostructured electrocatalysts for fuel cells: One-pot preparation, gradient structure, effect of alloying, electrochemical performance

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2023-07, Vol.48 (59), p.22379-22388
• Main Authors: Pavlets, Angelina, Alekseenko, Anastasia, Kozhokar, Ekaterina, Pankov, Ilya, Alekseenko, Danil, Guterman, Vladimir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bimetallic electrocatalyst; Environmentally friendly; Gram-scale synthesis; Oxygen reduction reaction; Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.01.054

This paper proposes an environmentally friendly one-pot synthesis approach for the PtCu and PtNi nanoparticles with the gradient structure on the carbon support. This method offers exceptional advantages over other approaches. Among them there is a surfactant-free synthesis, being low-temperature, simple, fast, and one-pot. The bimetallic electrocatalysts with a reduced platinum content for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells have been obtained. The proposed method is promising in terms of scaling and transition to commercial production. In this study, we first attempted to apply the gradient synthesis strategy to the PtNi/C catalysts in order to make this method versatile. We obtained the high-performance PtNi/C and PtCu/C catalysts, exhibiting the specific ORR activity higher than that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst by 3 and 4.6 times, respectively. [Display omitted] •New Pt-based nanostructured ORR electrocatalysts were obtained by a simple, versatile, and scalable method.•The PtCu and PtNi nanoparticles with Pt overlayers supported on carbon were synthesized by a gradient strategy.•PtNi/C and PtCu/C showed enhanced activity in the ORR compared with the commercial Pt/C.•The surfactant-free one-pot synthesis was used to obtain the PtNi and PtCu nanoparticles.•The environmentally friendly method was used to prepare Pt-based electrocatalysts.