A highly stable Tungsten-Doped TiO2-Supported platinum electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic media

Abstract

The carbon-supported platinum electrocatalyst’s severe carbon corrosion issue in acidic media limits the widespread application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Therefore, exploring novel noncarbon supports with improved corrosion resistance is needed to resolve this problem. This research presented tungsten-modified titanium dioxide (W-doped TiO2) support for the Pt catalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). W-doped TiO2 showed a higher surface area and more Ti3+ defect sites and oxygen vacancies than the undoped TiO2 support, which enhanced strong metal support interaction for the deposited Pt catalyst. Furthermore, the high ORR activity of the Pt/W-doped TiO2 catalyst was demonstrated using a high electrochemical surface area of 44.1 m2/gPt and mass activity value of 41.22 A/gPt for electrochemical performance in 0.1 M HClO4. Moreover, the rotating ring-disk electrode measurement of the Pt/W-doped TiO2 catalyst under acidic conditions showed a four-electron pathway with an ultrasmall peroxide yield of 0.42 %. Particularly, the durability test showed that the Pt/W-doped TiO2 had a remarkable stability compared to commercial catalysts. Therefore, this study provides a promising pathway to improve the stability of Pt-based catalysts for PEMFCs.