Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Influence of Alkali Metal Cations on the Oxygen Reduction Activity of Pt5Y and Pt5Gd Alloys

Journal Article · · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C
Electrolyte species can significantly influence the electrocatalytic performance. In this work, we investigate the impact of alkali metal cations on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on active Pt5Gd and Pt5Y polycrystalline electrodes. Due to the strain effects, Pt alloys exhibit a higher kinetic current density of ORR than pure Pt electrodes in acidic media. In alkaline solutions, the kinetic current density of ORR for Pt alloys decreases linearly with the decreasing hydration energy in the order of Li+ > Na+ > K+ > Rb+ > Cs+, whereas Pt shows the opposite trend. To gain further insights into these experimental results, we conduct complementary density functional theory calculations considering the effects of both electrode surface strain and electrolyte chemistry. The computational results reveal that the different trends in the ORR activity in alkaline media can be explained by the change in the adsorption energy of reaction intermediates with applied surface strain in the presence of alkali metal cations. Our findings provide important insights into the effects of the electrolyte and the strain conditions on the electrocatalytic performance and thus offer valuable guidelines for optimizing Pt-based electrocatalysts.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
2469667
Journal Information:
Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Journal Name: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 128; ISSN 1932-7447
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (71)

Nanoscale Structure Design for High-Performance Pt-Based ORR Catalysts journal December 2018
Changing the Activity of Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction by Tuning the Surface Electronic Structure journal April 2006
Tuning Nanoparticle Catalysis for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal June 2013
Optimizing the Size of Platinum Nanoparticles for Enhanced Mass Activity in the Electrochemical Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal July 2019
Universality in Oxygen Evolution Electrocatalysis on Oxide Surfaces journal March 2011
Oxygen Electroreduction Activity and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Platinum and Early Transition Metal Alloys journal February 2012
Experimental Aspects in Benchmarking of the Electrocatalytic Activity journal November 2014
Influence of Alkali Metal Cations on the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction Activity of Pt, Ir, Au, and Ag Electrodes in Alkaline Electrolytes journal June 2018
In Situ Quantification of the Local Electrocatalytic Activity via Electrochemical Scanning Tunneling Microscopy journal September 2020
Electrochemical top-down synthesis of C-supported Pt nano-particles with controllable shape and size: Mechanistic insights and application journal December 2020
Metal/air batteries: Their status and potential — a review journal January 1979
Efficiency of ab-initio total energy calculations for metals and semiconductors using a plane-wave basis set journal July 1996
The surface energy of metals journal August 1998
Quantum jumps in the PEMFC science and technology from the 1960s to the year 2000 journal December 2001
Activity benchmarks and requirements for Pt, Pt-alloy, and non-Pt oxygen reduction catalysts for PEMFCs journal March 2005
High oxygen reduction reaction activity of Pt5Pr electrodes in acidic media journal March 2018
Impacts of anions on the electrochemical oxygen reduction reaction activity and stability of Pt/C in alkaline electrolyte journal May 2019
Support materials for PEMFC and DMFC electrocatalysts—A review journal June 2012
High temperature (HT) polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) – A review journal June 2013
Quantitative kinetic analysis on oxygen reduction reaction: A perspective journal September 2021
Pt-based nanoarchitecture and catalyst design for fuel cell applications journal August 2014
Global renewable energy development: Influencing factors, trend predictions and countermeasures journal October 2019
Opportunities, barriers and issues with renewable energy development – A discussion journal March 2017
Understanding Catalytic Activity Trends in the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal December 2017
How the Nature of the Alkali Metal Cations Influences the Double-Layer Capacitance of Cu, Au, and Pt Single-Crystal Electrodes journal May 2020
Elucidating the Structure of the Cu-Alkaline Electrochemical Interface with the Laser-Induced Temperature Jump Method journal September 2020
Mechanism of Oxygen Reduction Reaction on Pt(111) in Alkaline Solution: Importance of Chemisorbed Water on Surface journal July 2016
The Priority and Challenge of High-Power Performance of Low-Platinum Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells journal March 2016
Influence of the Nature of the Alkali Metal Cations on the Electrical Double-Layer Capacitance of Model Pt(111) and Au(111) Electrodes journal March 2018
Revealing the Nature of Active Sites on Pt–Gd and Pt–Pr Alloys during the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal April 2022
Top-Down Synthesis of Nanostructured Platinum–Lanthanide Alloy Oxygen Reduction Reaction Catalysts: Pt x Pr/C as an Example journal January 2019
Oxygen Reduction in Alkaline Media: From Mechanisms to Recent Advances of Catalysts journal July 2015
Pt Alloy Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction: From Model Surfaces to Nanostructured Systems journal July 2016
Tailoring the Oxygen Reduction Activity of Pt Nanoparticles through Surface Defects: A Simple Top-Down Approach journal February 2020
How to Reliably Report the Overpotential of an Electrocatalyst journal March 2020
Oxygen Electroreduction at High-Index Pt Electrodes in Alkaline Electrolytes: A Decisive Role of the Alkali Metal Cations journal November 2018
The Particle Size Effect on the Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Pt Catalysts: Influence of Electrolyte and Relation to Single Crystal Models journal November 2011
Pt 5 Gd as a Highly Active and Stable Catalyst for Oxygen Electroreduction
  • Escudero-Escribano, María; Verdaguer-Casadevall, Arnau; Malacrida, Paolo
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 134, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja306348d
journal September 2012
Cation- and pH-Dependent Hydrogen Evolution and Oxidation Reaction Kinetics journal August 2021
Determination of the Platinum and Ruthenium Surface Areas in Platinum−Ruthenium Alloy Electrocatalysts by Underpotential Deposition of Copper. I. Unsupported Catalysts journal February 2002
Origin of the Overpotential for Oxygen Reduction at a Fuel-Cell Cathode journal November 2004
Influence of Cs+ and Na+ on Specific Adsorption of *OH, *O, and *H at Platinum in Acidic Sulfuric Media journal May 2012
A class of non-precious metal composite catalysts for fuel cells journal September 2006
Direct instrumental identification of catalytically active surface sites journal September 2017
The role of non-covalent interactions in electrocatalytic fuel-cell reactions on platinum journal August 2009
Alloys of platinum and early transition metals as oxygen reduction electrocatalysts journal September 2009
Lattice-strain control of the activity in dealloyed core–shell fuel cell catalysts journal April 2010
Why conclusions from platinum model surfaces do not necessarily lead to enhanced nanoparticle catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction journal January 2017
Unlocking the door to highly active ORR catalysts for PEMFC applications: polyhedron-engineered Pt-based nanocrystals journal January 2018
A trade-off between ligand and strain effects optimizes the oxygen reduction activity of Pt alloys journal January 2022
Estimations of electric field effects on the oxygen reduction reaction based on the density functional theory journal January 2007
Surface Pourbaix diagrams and oxygen reduction activity of Pt, Ag and Ni(111) surfaces studied by DFT journal January 2008
Enhanced activity and stability of Pt–La and Pt–Ce alloys for oxygen electroreduction: the elucidation of the active surface phase journal January 2014
Influence of cation adsorption on the kinetics of electrode processes journal January 1959
Beneficial compressive strain for oxygen reduction reaction on Pt (111) surface journal September 2014
Review of the Application of Ion Exchange Resins for the Recovery of Platinum-Group Metals From Hydrochloric Acid Solutions journal December 2013
Combining impedance and hydrodynamic methods in electrocatalysis. Characterization of Pt(pc), Pt5Gd, and nanostructured Pd for the hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2023
Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set journal October 1996
Improved adsorption energetics within density-functional theory using revised Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof functionals journal March 1999
Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple journal October 1996
Comment on “Generalized Gradient Approximation Made Simple” journal January 1998
Combined Electronic Structure and Evolutionary Search Approach to Materials Design journal June 2002
Role of Strain and Ligand Effects in the Modification of the Electronic and Chemical Properties of Bimetallic Surfaces journal October 2004
VESTA 3 for three-dimensional visualization of crystal, volumetric and morphology data journal October 2011
Improved Oxygen Reduction Activity on Pt3Ni(111) via Increased Surface Site Availability journal January 2007
Tuning the activity of Pt alloy electrocatalysts by means of the lanthanide contraction journal March 2016
Analysis of the Impact of Individual Glass Constituents on Electrocatalysis on Pt Electrodes in Alkaline Solution journal January 2008
Hydrogen Oxidation and Evolution Reaction Kinetics on Platinum: Acid vs Alkaline Electrolytes journal January 2010
Preparation of High Performance and Ultra-Low Platinum Loading Membrane Electrode Assembly for PEMFC Commercial Application journal January 2019
High Energy Density Metal-Air Batteries: A Review journal January 2013
Thermodynamic Properties of Platinum-rich Intermetallics in the Pt–Gd System journal January 1990