Lai, Dechao; Cheng, Qingqing; Zheng, Yu; Zhao, Hao; Chen, Yubin; Hu, Weibo; Zou, Zhiqing; Wen, Ke; Zou, Liangliang; Yang, Hui

JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A

2022, 10, 2050-7488

Lai, Dechao; Cheng, Qingqing; Zheng, Yu; Zhao, Hao; Chen, Yubin; Hu, Weibo; Zou, Zhiqing; Wen, Ke; Zou, Liangliang; Yang, Hui

Pt intermetallic compounds (IMCs) have attracted considerable interest due to their satisfactory activity and durability towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, downsizing the IMC nanoparticles while maintaining a high ordering degree remains an enormous challenge. Here, we present a pre-anchoring bimetal strategy to couple the Pt-Fe atoms into one heteronuclear bimetallic organic molecule enabling the targeted preparation of a highly ordered and small sized Pt1Fe1-IMC/C catalyst. Advanced structural measurements ascertain the formation of Pt1Fe1-IMC/C nanoparticles with mean sizes of ca. 4.1 nm and ordering degree of similar to 78%, thus verifying the feasibility of this strategy. The resultant Pt1Fe1-IMC/C catalyst exhibits an enhanced ORR activity with a mass activity (MA@0.9 V) of 0.45 A mg(Pt)(-1) and preeminent durability with only similar to 18% decay in MA after a 30 000-cycle accelerated durability test. A H-2-O-2/air fuel cell integrated with the as-prepared Pt1Fe1-IMC/C delivers a record-high peak power density (2.47/1.21 W cm(-2)) at 80 degrees C, making it one of the best-performing cathodic catalyst to date.