Atomically dispersed Pt and Fe sites and Pt–Fe nanoparticles for durable proton exchange membrane fuel cells

Abstract Proton exchange membrane fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into electricity without emissions. The high cost and low durability of Pt-based electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction hinder their wide application, and the development of non-precious metal electrocatalysts is limited by their low performance. Here we design a hybrid electrocatalyst that consists of atomically dispersed Pt and Fe single atoms and Pt–Fe alloy nanoparticles. Its Pt mass activity is 3.7 times higher than that of commercial Pt/C in a fuel cell. More importantly, the fuel cell with a low Pt loading in the cathode (0.015 mg Pt cm −2 ) shows an excellent durability, with a 97% activity retention after 100,000…

• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, DE-AC02-06CH11357, CERC-CVC2, DE-AC02-
• CL
  Canadian Light Source

  Award: DE-AC02-06CH11357
• NS
  National Supercomputer Centre in Guangzhou
• CE
  Canada Excellence Research Chairs, Government of Canada
• IA
  Innovation and Technology Commission

  Awards: CNERC14EG03, ITC-CNERC14EG03
• HK
  Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

  Award: FSUST19-FYTRI07
• SU
  Southern University of Science and Technology
• SM
  Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Council
• SM
  Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou)

  Award: SMSEGL20SC01
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: DE-AC02-06CH11357, DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357
• AN
  Argonne National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC02, 06CH11357, AC02-06CH11357