Engineering PtCu\nAlloy Nanoparticles on ZIF-8-Derived\nN‑Doped Carbon for Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

The\nrapid development of proton-exchange membrane fuel\ncells needs\nto develop Pt-based oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalysts with\nactivity and stability. In this study, PtCu alloy nanoparticles were\nin situ anchored on an N-doped porous carbon (NC) derived from ZIF-8\nwith a chemical reduction method to produce a PtCu/NC catalyst with\na Pt loading of 7.96 wt %. The PtCu alloy nanoparticles are uniformly\nimmobilized on the NC with a high surface area via a metal–support\ninteraction. The electrochemical test results demonstrated that the\nPtCu/NC catalyst displays remarkable activity with an <i>E</i>_1/2 value of 0.913 V vs RHE, higher than 0.878 V vs RHE\nfor the commercial Pt/C. The ORR mass activity of the PtCu/NC catalyst\nis 1.49 and 6.54 times that of PtCu/XC-72 and commercial Pt/C, respectively.\nThe eminent ORR performance of PtCu/NC is attributed to the high specific\narea of NC and electron-rich Pt sites enhanced by electron transfer\nfrom the N and Cu atoms. Moreover, PtCu/NC exhibited better catalytic\nstability than PtCu/XC-72 and Pt/C after 3000 potential cycles, attributed\nto the interaction between the N atom and PtCu alloy.