Pt-Based Intermetallic Compounds and Their Applications in Cathodic Oxygen Reduction Reaction of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

摘要

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell is a green energy technology that can directly, efficiently and environmentally-friendly convert the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy. Proton exchange membrane fuel cell has high energy conversion efficiency, fast startup, zero or low emissions. It is considered to be one of the most important energy alternative technologies in the post-oil era. Unfortunately, the current electrocatalysts suffer from high platinum loading and insufficient stability. The development of high-performance low-platinum catalysts is of great significance for reducing the cost of proton exchange membrane fuel cells and promoting the large-scale commercial application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Pt-based intermetallic compound is a kind of materials with determined stoichiometric ratio and regular atomic arrangement structure. It has been recognized as one of the most promising low-platinum catalysts, due to its much better catalytic activity and stability than corresponding disordered alloy materials and conventional Pt catalysts towards oxygen reduction reaction. In this paper, we have introduced the research progress of Pt-based intermetallic compounds catalysts from the aspects of catalytic mechanism, preparation technology, composition tuning, particle size tuning, morphology tuning and crystal structure in recent years, and the investigations on the application of intermetallic compounds in the oxygen reduction reaction of proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Moreover, the problems and challenges need to be overcome and addressed for the catalysts are pointed out, and a perspective for the research and development ideas and directions in the future is made.

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