Crystal structure

Nanomaterial-based catalyst

Catalysis

Engineering

Chemical engineering

Platinum

Organic chemistry

Crystallography

Tetragonal crystal system

Chemistry

Metallurgy

Materials science

Alloy

Intermetallic

ACS Catalysis

Low platinum-group-metal (PGM) ordered intermetallic catalysts have been considered one of the most promising candidates for catalyzing the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in fuel cells, but achieving the desired performances in terms of activity, durability, and cost is still a grand challenge for the fuel cell research field. While the cubic- and tetragonal-ordered (L12 and L10 phases) low-PGM nanocatalysts have been investigated extensively and have shown considerably improved durability and activity toward the ORR, so far, little is known about rhombohedral ordered L11 catalysts. We report the synthesis of an L11-ordered PtCu catalyst for the ORR. We demonstrate that by applying nitrogen (N) doping through a thermal treatment in an NH3 gas, the activity and stability of the N-doped, rhombohedral ordered PtCu catalyst can be further enhanced, and the ORR mass and specific activities achieve nearly 5-fold and 4-fold enhancement in acidic media, respectively, relative to those of commercial Pt/C. In situ syn...

Rhombohedral Ordered Intermetallic Nanocatalyst Boosts the Oxygen Reduction Reaction