PtNi-W/C with Atomically Dispersed Tungsten Sites Toward Boosted ORR in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Devices

The performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells is heavily dependent on the microstructure of electrode catalyst especially at low catalyst loadings.This work shows a hybrid electrocatalyst consisting of PtNi-W alloy nanocrystals loaded on carbon surface with atomically dispersed W sites by a two-step straightforward method.Single-atomic W can be found on the carbon surface,which can form protonic acid sites and establish an extended proton transport network at the catalyst surface.When implemented in membrane electrode assembly as cathode at ultra-low loading of 0.05 mgPt cm^(−2),the peak power density of the cell is enhanced by 64.4%compared to that with the commercial Pt/C catalyst.The theoretical calculation suggests that the single-atomic W possesses a favorable energetics toward the formation of*OOH whereby the intermediates can be efficiently converted and further reduced to water,revealing a interfacial cascade catalysis facilitated by the single-atomic W.This work highlights a novel functional hybrid electrocatalyst design from the atomic level that enables to solve the bottle-neck issues at device level.

碱金属离子诱导亚稳相钌纳米晶合成

亚稳相金属纳米晶因其优异的物理化学性质备受关注,然而如何可控合成亚稳相结构依然面临诸多挑战.本文报道了碱金属离子诱导亚稳相钌纳米晶(面心立方相)的可控合成策略.研究表明钌纳米晶结构和碱金属离子半径密切相关,因此通过改变碱金属离子实现了面心立方相和六方密堆相比例的连续调控.理论计算结果表明,碱金属的存在导致面心立方相的形成能低于六方密堆相,并且这种能量差随着碱金属离子半径的增大而增大.本工作为拓展亚稳态结构的实际应用奠定了基础.