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Title: Transition metal nitride coated with atomic layers of Pt as a low-cost, highly stable electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b11364· OSTI ID:1257951

Here, the main challenges to the commercial viability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are (i) the high cost associated with using large amounts of Pt in fuel cell cathodes to compensate for the sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction, (ii) catalyst degradation, and (iii) carbon-support corrosion. To address these obstacles, our group has focused on robust, carbon-free transition metal nitride materials with low Pt content that exhibit tunable physical and catalytic properties. Here, we report on the high performance of a novel catalyst with low Pt content, prepared by placing several layers of Pt atoms on nanoparticles of titanium nickel binary nitride. For the ORR, the catalyst exhibited a more than 400% and 200% increase in mass activity and specific activity, respectively, compared with the commercial Pt/C catalyst. It also showed excellent stability/durability, experiencing only a slight performance loss after 10,000 potential cycles, while TEM results showed its structure had remained intact. The catalyst’s outstanding performance may have resulted from the ultrahigh dispersion of Pt (several atomic layers coated on the nitride nanoparticles), and the excellent stability/durability may have been due to the good stability of nitride and synergetic effects between ultrathin Pt layer and the robust TiNiN support.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC00112704
OSTI ID:
1257951
Report Number(s):
BNL-112237-2016-JA; R&D Project: MA510MAEA; KC0302010
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 138, Issue 5; ISSN 0002-7863
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 310 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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The Advanced Designs of High-Performance Platinum-Based Electrocatalysts: Recent Progresses and Challenges journal June 2018
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A One‐Pot Method to Synthesize a Co‐Based Graphene‐Like Structure Doped Carbon Material for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal November 2019
Highly Durable and Active Pt-Based Nanoscale Design for Fuel-Cell Oxygen-Reduction Electrocatalysts journal January 2018
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Mechanochemical-Assisted Synthesis of High-Entropy Metal Nitride via a Soft Urea Strategy journal April 2018
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Cobalt Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotube as Bifunctional-Catalyst for Rechargeable Zn-Air Batteries journal April 2019
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