Improved Electrochemical Activity of Pt/C Catalysts through Mild Ultraviolet Pulsed Laser Post Irradiation

• Published in: Journal of physical chemistry. C Vol. 129; no. 16; pp. 7740 - 7750
• Main Authors: Matten, Manuel, Koch, Nico G., Caidi, Adib, Radev, Ivan, Lange, Thomas, Barcikowski, Stephan, Reichenberger, Sven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 24.04.2025
• Subjects: C: Chemical and Catalytic Reactivity at Interfaces
• ISSN: 1932-7447; 1932-7455
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5c00223

Renewable energy technologies like fuel cells still face a severe long-term challenge due to the scarcity of key catalyst elements, in particular, platinum. A common strategy involves maximizing the electrochemically active platinum surface by optimizing the nanoparticle size and mass load on the support. Recent studies show that laser-induced structural defects are highly beneficial beyond these size and mass load effects, but optimal irradiation conditions remain elusive. Therefore, we investigated how different wavelengths (IR, VIS, and UV) affect the electrochemical activity of platinum nanoparticles in a real fuel cell application at comparable particle size and mass load. Initial cyclic voltammetry testing showed a maximal electrochemically active surface area for Pt synthesized via laser ablation with IR pulses and subsequent UV treatment. Catalytic testing in a real fuel cell shows an improvement of the electrical power density at 0.6 V by nearly a factor of 5 after the UV treatment, which is evaluated in the context of the performance of two commercial catalysts. In this regard, the deconvolution of the hydrogen adsorption signal in the half-cell tests shows a significantly higher activity contribution of Pt(100) and Pt(110) after UV treatment. These first results suggest that the use of pulsed laser synthesis in processing obtains a high potential to reduce platinum demand in fuel cells in the future.