Abstract
The large-scale practical application of fuel cells cannot come true if the high-priced Pt-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) cannot be replaced by other efficient, low-cost, and stable electrodes. Here, based on density functional theory (DFT), we exploited the potentials of layered SiC sheets as a novel catalyst for ORR. From our DFT results, it can be predicted that layered SiC sheets exhibit excellent ORR catalytic activity without CO poisoning, while the CO poisoning is the major drawback in conventional Pt-based catalysts. Furthermore, the layered SiC sheets in alkaline media has better catalytic activity than Pt(111) surface and have potential as a metal-free catalyst for ORR in fuel cells.
Highlights
The large-scale practical application of fuel cells cannot come true if the high-priced Pt-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) cannot be replaced by other efficient, low-cost, and stable electrodes
The sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode is one of the key factors limiting the performance of fuel cells, and efficient ORR electrocatalysts are essential for practical applications of the fuel cells
The layered SiC sheets are energetically favorable in comparison to cubic SiC sheets when N, 4, while cubic SiC sheets are advantaged as N $ 4, as shown in Fig. S1 and Table S1 in supporting information
Summary
The large-scale practical application of fuel cells cannot come true if the high-priced Pt-based electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) cannot be replaced by other efficient, low-cost, and stable electrodes. The layered SiC sheets in alkaline media has better catalytic activity than Pt(111) surface and have potential as a metal-free catalyst for ORR in fuel cells. Recent studies have confirmed that N, B, P and S doped carbon materials are hopeful candidates to replace Pt-based catalysts for fuel cells due to their high catalytic activity, long-term stability and excellent CO tolerance[14,15,19,20,21,22,23]. We predicted that layered SiC sheets exhibit excellent ORR catalytic activity and high CO tolerance, and may be a very likely candidate for the generation of low-cost ORR electrocatalysts
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