Improved Electrocatalytic Activity and Durability of Pt Nanoparticles Supported on Boron-Doped Carbon Black

Abstract

A facile strategy is proposed to synthesize boron-doped ECP600 carbon black (B-ECP600), and the catalyst of Pt supported on boron-doped ECP600 (Pt/B-ECP600) shows smaller particle sizes and a higher electrochemical surface area (95.62 m2·gPt−1) and oxygen reduction reaction activity (0.286 A·mgPt−1 for mass activity; 0.299 mA·cm−2 for area specific activity) compared to the catalyst of Pt supported on ECP600 (Pt/ECP600). The results show that the boron doping of the carbon supports plays an important role in controlling the size and dispersion of Pt nanoparticles and the O2 adsorption/dissociation of the oxygen reduction reaction. A further accelerated durability test proves that boron doping can greatly enhance the stability of carbon support and thus improves the electrochemical performance of the catalyst during the long-time running. All these results suggest boron-doped carbon has great potential for application in fuel cells.

Pt–C interactions in carbon-supported Pt-based electrocatalysts

“…Hu et al [101] synthesized Pt/B-doped graphene catalysts by using a one-pot hydrothermal method with homemade graphene oxide as the substrate, Pt(NH 3 ) 4 (NO 3 ) 2 as the Pt precursors and boric acid as the B source. In the process, B atoms are embedded into the graphene matrix, which enhances the Pt nucleation rate, promotes formation of more metallic Pt, and facilitates higher dispersion and smaller sizes of the Pt nanoparticles.…”

Enhancement of Activity and Development of Low Pt Content Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Acid Media

“…In the presence of the S-doped carbon functional layer, the O–O dissociation step of the ORR mechanism seems to be favored by lowering the *OOH coverage on Pt. Additionally, the boron doping of the carbon supports provides more sites for noble metal anchoring, generation of Pt particles of small sizes, and better dispersion of the active sites [ 128 , 129 ]. Based on the density functional theory calculations, it is reasonable to expect significant increases in the adsorption energies for Pt in the presence of boron originating from the B-doped carbon supports.…”

High Oxygen Reduction Activity of Pt-Ni Alloy Catalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

“…Through the analysis of the fuel cell degradation mechanism, it can be seen that under the operating conditions of the fuel cell, the catalyst will have problems such as agglomeration, migration, and dissolution of Pt nanoparticles, resulting in a gradual decrease in the active surface and degradation of battery performance [5,6]. In order to reduce the amount of Pt used in fuel cell catalysts, reduce costs, and extend the service life of fuel cells, the development of high-efficiency low-platinum catalysts and mass production are key technologies to accelerate the application of fuel cells [5,7]. The use of relatively inexpensive transition metals (M) to form alloys with Pt is a strategy that has attracted much attention in the development of Pt-based catalysts [8,9].…”