1 research outputs found
Alcohol-Tolerant Platinum Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction by Encapsulating Platinum Nanoparticles inside Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanocages
Pt-based electrocatalysts
are the most popular for direct alcohol fuel cells, but their performances
easily deteriorate for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the
cathode because of the alcohol crossover effect. Herein, we report
the novel Pt electrocatalyst encapsulated inside nitrogen-doped carbon
nanocages (Pt@NCNC), which presents excellent alcohol-tolerant ORR
activity and durability in acidic media, far superior to the Pt counterpart
immobilized outside the nanocages (Pt/NCNC). The superb performance
is correlated with the molecule-sieving effect of the micropores penetrating
through the shells of the nanocages, which admit the small-sized oxygen
and ions but block the large-sized alcohols into the nanocages. This
mechanism is confirmed by examining the size dependence of ORR and
alcohol oxidation activities by regulating the micropores sizes. This
study provides a promising strategy to develop the superior alcohol-tolerant
Pt-based ORR electrocatalyst in acidic media