Identifying the distinct roles of dual dopants in stabilizing the platinum-nickel nanowire catalyst for durable fuel cell

Lei Gao; Tulai Sun; Xuli Chen; Zhilong Yang; Mengfan Li; Wenchuan Lai; Wenhua Zhang; Quan Yuan; Hongwen Huang

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-44788-0

Identifying the distinct roles of dual dopants in stabilizing the platinum-nickel nanowire catalyst for durable fuel cell

Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 13;15(1):508. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-44788-0.

Authors

Lei Gao^#¹, Tulai Sun^#², Xuli Chen^#¹, Zhilong Yang¹, Mengfan Li¹, Wenchuan Lai¹, Wenhua Zhang³, Quan Yuan¹, Hongwen Huang^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
² Center for Electron Microscopy, State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Green Chemistry Synthesis Technology and College of Chemical Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, PR China.
³ Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, PR China.
⁴ College of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, PR China. huanghw@hnu.edu.cn.
⁵ Shenzhen Research Institute of Hunan University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, PR China. huanghw@hnu.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Stabilizing active PtNi alloy catalyst toward oxygen reduction reaction is essential for fuel cell. Doping of specific metals is an empirical strategy, however, the atomistic insight into how dopant boosts the stability of PtNi catalyst still remains elusive. Here, with typical examples of Mo and Au dopants, we identify the distinct roles of Mo and Au in stabilizing PtNi nanowires catalysts. Specifically, due to the stronger interaction between atomic orbital for Ni-Mo and Pt-Au, the Mo dopant mainly suppresses the outward diffusion of Ni atoms while the Au dopant contributes to the stabilization of surface Pt overlayer. Inspired by this atomistic understanding, we rationally construct the PtNiMoAu nanowires by integrating the different functions of Mo and Au into one entity. Such catalyst assembled in fuel cell cathode thus presents both remarkable activity and durability, even surpassing the United States Department of Energy technical targets for 2025.