Pt/C Decorated with N-Doped Carbon Layers as a Highly Durable Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Exploiting advanced electrocatalysts for the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) of the cathode is greatly crucial for proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) commercial application but still exhibit a significant challenge, especially the stability issues that have drawn attractive attention. Therefore, we introduced a nitrogen-doped carbon layer into the Pt/C surface, which not only prevents aggregation of Pt nanoparticles but also endows the electrocatalyst with enhanced performance without hiding the internal Pt active sites. The accelerated durability tests show an ignorable ORR activity loss (10 mV) in the as-prepared Pt/C@NC-0.06 sample compared to the pristine Pt/C catalyst (37 mV) after 5000 cyclic voltammetry cycles. Furthermore, in comparison to the pristine Pt/C catalyst (0.28 mA cm–2), the as-obtained Pt/C@NC-0.06 sample exhibits 2.32-fold improvement for the specific activity. The enhanced ORR properties of the Pt/C@NC-X catalyst in this work supplies a promising way to facilitate the electrocatalytic performance of catalysts in PEMFCs.