How to appropriately assess the oxygen reduction reaction activity of platinum group metal catalysts with rotating disk electrode

• Published in: iScience Vol. 24; no. 9; p. 103024
• Main Authors: Xia, Yun-Fei, Guo, Pan, Li, Jia-Zhan, Zhao, Lei, Sui, Xu-Lei, Wang, Yan, Wang, Zhen-Bo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 24.09.2021; Elsevier
• Subjects: Catalysis; Chemical reaction; Energy storage; Energy systems; Energy systems; Catalysis; Chemical reaction; Energy storage
• ISSN: 2589-0042; 2589-0042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103024

The sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has becoming the bottleneck of largescale implementation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. However, when it comes to the ORR activity assessing of platinum group metals (PGMs) with rotating disk electrode, the corresponding potential conversion vs. reversible hydrogen electrode, test protocols, and activity calculation processes are still in chaos in many published literatures. In this work, two standard calculation processes for PGM ORR activities are demonstrated, followed by a specification for the usage of reference electrodes. Then a 4-fold discrepancy in ORR activities obtained via different test protocols is found for the same Pt/C, and an average adsorption model and the “coverage effects” are proposed to illustrate the hysteresis loop between negative and positive-going ORR polarization plots. Finally, four motions over appropriate assessment of PGM ORR activity are emphasized, hoping to bring a fair communication platform for researchers from different groups. [Display omitted] •Reference electrode usage specifications and mechanisms are illustrated•A 4-fold ORR activity discrepancy of Pt/C is found for different test protocols•An average adsorption model with self-consistent iterative algorithm is found•The coverage effects derived from the model can interpret the ORR hysteresis loop Chemical reaction; Catalysis; Energy systems; Energy storage