Synthesis of supported Pt alloy 3D rhombus shape nanoparticles for oxygen reduction reaction

In this study PtFeCo ternary alloy nanoparticles of three dimensional (3D) rhombus shapes dispersed on graphene nanosheets (PtFeCo/Gr) were successfully prepared and studied as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in polymer-electrolyte fuel cells. A combination of analytical techniques including powder X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectra, inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and electrochemical methods have been used for characterization of the synthesized electrocatalysts in this study. For comparison the graphene supported PtFe catalyst (PtFe/Gr), graphene supported PtCo catalyst (PtCo/Gr) binary alloys and graphene supported Pt catalyst (Pt/Gr) were also synthesized and investigated under the same experimental conditions. From the electrochemical analysis, it was found that PtFeCo/Gr particles exhibited an obvious enhancement of ORR activity in comparison with pure Pt and binary alloys. The significantly improved EAS, ORR activity and cell performance is achieved by increasing the utilization of the PtCoFe/ Gr electrocatalyst by increasing the three-phase boundary in the electrocatalyst layer.