Carbon Supported Platinum-Molybdenum Alloy Nanoparticles for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Fuel cells are gaining importance in the emerging area of power generation. However, sluggishness of the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and usage of expensive electrocatalysts are hindering its widespread application. Hence, an effort has been made in the present study to synthesize efficient electrocatalysts based on Pt-Mo alloys with varying atomic ratios (0-100 at. %) by thermal decomposition method. The synthesized samples were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM and XPS techniques. The electrocatalytic activity for ORR was measured using cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk electrode for all the samples and Pt-Mo (1:1) electrocatalyst performed better among the synthesized electrocatalysts with ORR current density of 63 mA/cm2 at an applied potential of 0.6 V vs. Hg/HgSO4. The present study suggests that Pt-Mo studied are proven to be a superior catalyst than a costly Pt catalyst with high ORR activity.