Surface Distortion and Electrocatalysis: Structure-Activity Relationships for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction on PtNi/C Nanocatalysts
The electrical performance of a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) is limited by the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics. Thereby, the high platinum content needed at the cathodic catalytic layer to compensate this poor kinetics creates a major cost barrier for massive commercialization of PEMFC systems. Investigations on the formation and growth mechanism of a novel class of nanocatalysts developed in our laboratory using high energy operando X-ray and electron-based techniques revealed that, beyond alloying effects, structural disorder is a lever to boost the ORR kinetics on bimetallic nanomaterials. The ‘defects do catalysis’ concept was progressively extended to various PtNi catalyst nanostructures, namely to advanced shape-controlled nanocatalysts from the ORR electrocatalysis landscape thanks to fruitful collaborations with European laboratories. This work shows that, through their distorted surface, microstrained nanomaterials feature unprecedented adsorption properties and represent a viable approach to sustainably enhance the ORR activity.
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