Interface synergism and engineering of Pd/Co@N-C for direct ethanol fuel cells

Jinfa Chang; Guanzhi Wang; Xiaoxia Chang; Zhenzhong Yang; Han Wang; Boyang Li; Wei Zhang; Libor Kovarik; Yingge Du; Nina Orlovskaya; Bingjun Xu; Guofeng Wang; Yang Yang

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37011-z

Interface synergism and engineering of Pd/Co@N-C for direct ethanol fuel cells

Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 11;14(1):1346. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37011-z.

Authors

Jinfa Chang^#¹, Guanzhi Wang^#^{1

2}, Xiaoxia Chang³, Zhenzhong Yang⁴, Han Wang⁴, Boyang Li⁵, Wei Zhang^{1

2}, Libor Kovarik⁴, Yingge Du⁴, Nina Orlovskaya^{6

7}, Bingjun Xu³, Guofeng Wang⁵, Yang Yang^{8

9

10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA.
³ Catalysis Center for Energy Innovation, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, 19716, USA.
⁴ Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, 99352, USA.
⁵ Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA.
⁷ Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation Cluster, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA.
⁸ NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA. Yang.Yang@ucf.edu.
⁹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA. Yang.Yang@ucf.edu.
¹⁰ Renewable Energy and Chemical Transformation Cluster, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. Yang.Yang@ucf.edu.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA. Yang.Yang@ucf.edu.
¹² The Stephen W. Hawking Center for Microgravity Research and Education, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, 32826, USA. Yang.Yang@ucf.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Direct ethanol fuel cells have been widely investigated as nontoxic and low-corrosive energy conversion devices with high energy and power densities. It is still challenging to develop high-activity and durable catalysts for a complete ethanol oxidation reaction on the anode and accelerated oxygen reduction reaction on the cathode. The materials' physics and chemistry at the catalytic interface play a vital role in determining the overall performance of the catalysts. Herein, we propose a Pd/Co@N-C catalyst that can be used as a model system to study the synergism and engineering at the solid-solid interface. Particularly, the transformation of amorphous carbon to highly graphitic carbon promoted by cobalt nanoparticles helps achieve the spatial confinement effect, which prevents structural degradation of the catalysts. The strong catalyst-support and electronic effects at the interface between palladium and Co@N-C endow the electron-deficient state of palladium, which enhances the electron transfer and improved activity/durability. The Pd/Co@N-C delivers a maximum power density of 438 mW cm^-2 in direct ethanol fuel cells and can be operated stably for more than 1000 hours. This work presents a strategy for the ingenious catalyst structural design that will promote the development of fuel cells and other sustainable energy-related technologies.

Grants and funding

65481-ND10/ACS | American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund (ACS Petroleum Research Fund)