Effect of the Reduction Heat-Treatment Condition on the Performance of Pt-Fe/C Alloy Catalyst

Abstract

Pt-Fe/C catalyst for proton exchange membrane fuel cell(PEMFC) was prepared by a pulse-microwave assisted chemical reduction heat-treatment synthesis method.The elemental content was tested by inductively coupled plasma(ICP).The microstructure and morphology of the as-prepared catalyst were characterized by transmission electron microscopy(TEM),X-ray diffraction(XRD),and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).The electrocatalytic performance was measured by cyclic voltammetry(CV).The results indicate that pulse-microwave assisted chemical reduction heat-treatment synthesis is an efficient method for preparing PEMFC catalysts while the temperature and time of heat treatment greatly affect the size and activity of the Pt-Fe nanoparticles.For a heating temperature of 500 °C and a time of 3 h the Pt-Fe nanoparticles were uniform in size.Moreover,the Pt-Fe/C-500-3h alloy catalyst was highly dispersed on the surface of the carbon support and the TEM and XRD showed that the average Pt-Fe nanoparticle size was 1.8 nm.The electrochemical measurements show that the electrochemical surface area(ESA) of the catalyst was 55.14 m2·g-1.