Medium/High-Entropy Amalgamated Core/Shell Nanoplate Achieves Efficient Formic Acid Catalysis for Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell

Changhong Zhan; Lingzheng Bu; Haoran Sun; Xingwei Huang; Zhipeng Zhu; Tang Yang; Haibin Ma; Leigang Li; Yucheng Wang; Hongbo Geng; Weizhen Wang; Huaze Zhu; Chih-Wen Pao; Qi Shao; Zhiqing Yang; Wei Liu; Zhaoxiong Xie; Xiaoqing Huang

doi:10.1002/anie.202213783

Medium/High-Entropy Amalgamated Core/Shell Nanoplate Achieves Efficient Formic Acid Catalysis for Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Jan 16;62(3):e202213783. doi: 10.1002/anie.202213783. Epub 2022 Dec 12.

Authors

Changhong Zhan¹, Lingzheng Bu², Haoran Sun³, Xingwei Huang⁴, Zhipeng Zhu¹, Tang Yang¹, Haibin Ma¹, Leigang Li¹, Yucheng Wang¹, Hongbo Geng⁵, Weizhen Wang⁴, Huaze Zhu⁴, Chih-Wen Pao⁶, Qi Shao⁷, Zhiqing Yang⁸, Wei Liu³, Zhaoxiong Xie¹, Xiaoqing Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
² College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China.
³ Nano and Heterogeneous Materials Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China.
⁴ Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
⁵ School of Materials Engineering, Changshu Institute of Technology, Changshu, 215500, China.
⁶ National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, 30076, Taiwan.
⁷ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Jiangsu, 215123, China.
⁸ Ji Hua Laboratory, Foshan, 528200, China.

PMID: 36400747
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202213783

Abstract

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been attracting extensive research interests in designing advanced nanomaterials, while their precise control is still in the infancy stage. Herein, we have reported a well-defined PtBiPbNiCo hexagonal nanoplates (HEA HPs) as high-performance electrocatalysts. Structure analysis decodes that the HEA HP is constructed with PtBiPb medium-entropy core and PtBiNiCo high-entropy shell. Significantly, the HEA HPs can reach the specific and mass activities of 27.2 mA cm^-2 and 7.1 A mg_Pt ^-1 for formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR), being the record catalyst ever achieved in Pt-based catalysts, and can realize the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) power density (321.2 mW cm^-2 ) in fuel cell. Further experimental and theoretical analyses collectively evidence that the hexagonal intermetallic core/atomic layer shell structure and multi-element synergy greatly promote the direct dehydrogenation pathway of formic acid molecule and suppress the formation of CO*.

Keywords: Core/Shell; Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell; Electrocatalysis; Formic Acid; High-Entropy Alloy.

Abstract

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