Ternary PtZrNi nanorods for efficient multifunctional electrocatalysis towards oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation

Shi Zeng; Jingxian Zhang; Haifan Wang; Xu Zhang; Huaming Hou; Yiling Bai; Guangjin Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.117

Ternary PtZrNi nanorods for efficient multifunctional electrocatalysis towards oxygen reduction and alcohol oxidation

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 May 15:638:901-907. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.117. Epub 2023 Jan 30.

Authors

Shi Zeng¹, Jingxian Zhang², Haifan Wang², Xu Zhang², Huaming Hou³, Yiling Bai³, Guangjin Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu 610041, China; Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion, Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Taiyuan 030001, China; National Energy Center for Coal to Liquids, Synfuels China Technology Co., Ltd, Beijing 101400, China.
⁴ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing, China. Electronic address: zhanggj@ipe.ac.cn.

PMID: 36737350
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.01.117

Abstract

Pt-based alloys with precise structure and composition design have been considered to be effective and robust novel electrocatalysts for fuel cells. Whereas, the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and low intrinsic activity of Pt limited their real application on a large scale. Herein, a novel ternary PtZrNi nanorods (PtZrNi NRs) was synthesized via a facile wet-chemical method to achieve high electrocatalytic performance for both ORR and alcohol oxidation reaction owing to the synergism of chosen three elements and prominent one-dimensional morphology. Specifically, the PtZrNi NRs show enhanced mass and specific activities of 0.755 A mg_Pt^-1 and of 0.97 mA/cm² at 0.9 V_RHE towards ORR in acidic media, which are 4.7 and 4.4 times of those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. Additionally, in alkaline media, the PtZrNi NRs also exhibit superior ORR mass and specific activities of 3.216 A mg_Pt^-1and 4.13 mA/cm², enhanced by 34.6 and 31.3 times compared with those of commercial Pt/C, respectively. The PtZrNi NRs retain the nanorod shape well without agglomeration after an accelerated durability test (20000 cycles). This work may offer a new perspective for engineering high-performance Pt-based electrocatalysts for commercial fuel cells.

Keywords: Acidic/alkaline; Alcohol oxidation reaction; Fuel cells; Oxygen reduction reaction; Pt-based nanorods.

MeSH terms

Alloys*
Kinetics
Nanotubes*
Oxygen

Substances

Alloys
Oxygen