Steering Pt surface via N-doped carbon layer to highly active CO-tolerant hydrogen oxidation reaction catalyst in alkaline media

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 614; p. 156131
• Main Authors: Zhang, Boyang, Liu, Jing, Yu, Wanqin, Gao, Jie, Cui, Xuejing, Jiang, Luhua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 30.03.2023
• Subjects: Anion exchange membrane fuel cells; CO poisoning; Hydrogen oxidation reaction; Platinum catalyst; CO poisoning; Platinum catalyst; Hydrogen oxidation reaction; Anion exchange membrane fuel cells
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2022.156131

[Display omitted] •A novel core-shell structured Pt@NC/C catalyst is synthesized.•Pt@NC/C shows accelerated HOR kinetics in the alkaline media.•Pt@NC/C has excellent anti-CO ability.•Hydroxyl adsorption is enhanced on the carbon layer covered Pt. Improving the CO-tolerant ability of Pt-based electrocatalysts is crucial for fuel cells fed with industrial byproduct hydrogen. Herein, we present a novel core-shell structured Pt@NC/C catalyst consisting of ultrafine Pt nanoparticles (1.63 nm) as the core and ultrathin nitrogen-doped carbon layers (0.36 nm) as the shell. The catalyst exhibits excellent alkaline hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) activity with a mass activity of 187 A g−1Pt and a specific activity of 0.20 mA cm−2Pt, which are 1.3 and 2.2-folds to the counterpart Pt/C, respectively. More remarkably, it shows good anti CO-poisoning ability. In presence of H2 with 100 ppm CO, the HOR current degraded by 18.22% on 10% Pt/C versus only 4.81% on 10% Pt@NC/C-400. The combined X-ray photo-electron spectrum (XPS) analysis, COad stripping, CO oxidation and Zeta potential measurements imply that hydroxyl adsorption is enhanced on the NC covered Pt in 10% Pt@NC/C-400 possibly due to electron modulation induced by the strong metal and support interaction, which accelerates HOR kinetics and improvs anti-CO ability. This work provides a facile and feasible strategy to design efficient and CO-resistant Pt-based catalysts.