Multicomponent platinum-free nanoporous Pd-based alloy as an active and methanol-tolerant electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

• Published in: Nano research Vol. 9; no. 6; pp. 1831 - 1843
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiaoting, Si, Conghui, Wang, Ying, Ding, Yi, Zhang, Zhonghua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing Tsinghua University Press 01.06.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atomic/Molecular Structure and Spectra; Biomedicine; Biotechnology; Catalysis; Catalysts; Chemical synthesis; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Density functional theory; Electrocatalysts; Materials Science; Methanol; Methyl alcohol; Nanostructure; Nanotechnology; Oxygen; Oxygen reduction reactions; Platinum; Platinum base alloys; Proton exchange membrane fuel cells; Reduction; Research Article; Tafel slopes; Three dimensional; 催化剂; 催化活性; 基合金; 多组分; 氧还原反应; 甲醇; 纳米多孔; 质子交换膜燃料电池; electrocatalyst; direct methanol fuel cells; dealloying; methanol tolerance; oxygen reduction reaction; nanoporous alloys
• ISSN: 1998-0124; 1998-0000
• DOI: 10.1007/s12274-016-1076-z

Development of high-performance oxygen reduction reaction （ORR） catalysts is crucial to improve proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Herein, a multicomponent nanoporous PdCuTiA1 （np-PdCuTiA1） electrocatalyst has been synthesized by a facile one-step dealloying strategy. The np-PdCuTiA1 catalyst exhibits a three-dimensional bicontinuous interpenetrating ligament/channel structure with an ultrafine length scale of -3.7 nm. The half-wave potential of np PdCuTiA1 is 0.873 V vs. RHE, more positive than those of PdC （0.756 V vs. RHE） and PtC （0.864 V vs. RHE） catalysts. The np-PdCuTiAl alloy shows a 4-electron reaction pathway with similar Tafel slopes to PtC. Remarkably, the half-wave potential shows a negative shift of only 12 mV for np-PdCuTiA1 in the presence of methanol, and this negative shift is much lower than those of the PdC （50 mV） and PtC （165 mV） catalysts. The enhanced ORR activity of np-PdCuTiA1 has been further rationalized through density functional theory calculations.