Highly Durable and Active Pt-Based Nanoscale Design for Fuel-Cell Oxygen-Reduction Electrocatalysts

Abstract

Fuel cells are one of the promising energy-conversion devices due to their high efficiency and zero emission. Although recent advances in electrocatalysts have been achieved using various material designs such as alloys, core@shell structures, and shape control, many issues still remain to be resolved. Especially, material design issues for high durability and high activity are recently accentuated owing to severe instability of nanoparticles under fuel-cell operating conditions. To address these issues, fundamental understanding of functional links between activity and durability is timely urgent. Here, the activity and durability of nanoscale materials are summarized, focusing on the nanoparticle size effect. In addition to phenomenological observation, two major degradation origins, including atomic dissolution and particle size increase, are discussed related to the activity decrease. Based on the fundamental understanding of nanoparticle degradation, recent promising strategies for durable Pt-based nanoscale electrocatalysts are introduced and the role of each design for durability enhancement is discussed. Finally, short comments related to the future direction of nanoparticle issues are provided in terms of nanoparticle synthesis and analysis.

The functional links between durability and activity of nanoscale materials are discussed based on the nanoparticle degradation mechanism. Furthermore, recent promising strategies to improve not only activity but also durability of Pt-based nanoscale electrocatalysts and the future perspectives on promising research relating to analysis and application of nanoparticles are summarized.

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