Alcohol-Tolerant Platinum Electrocatalyst for Oxygen Reduction by Encapsulating Platinum Nanoparticles inside Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanocages.
Pt-based electrocatalysts are the most popular for direct alcohol fuel cells, but their performances easily deteriorate for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at the cathode because of the alcohol crossover effect. Herein, we report the novel Pt electrocatalyst encapsulated inside nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages (Pt@NCNC), which presents excellent alcohol-tolerant ORR activity and durability in acidic media, far superior to the Pt counterpart immobilized outside the nanocages (Pt/NCNC). The superb performance is correlated with the molecule-sieving effect of the micropores penetrating through the shells of the nanocages, which admit the small-sized oxygen and ions but block the large-sized alcohols into the nanocages. This mechanism is confirmed by examining the size dependence of ORR and alcohol oxidation activities by regulating the micropores sizes. This study provides a promising strategy to develop the superior alcohol-tolerant Pt-based ORR electrocatalyst in acidic media.
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Liming
L
Shen
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Tao
T
Sun
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Ou
O
Zhuo
Department of Materials Science and Advanced Materials Laboratory, Fudan University , Shanghai 200433, People's Republic of China.
Renchao
R
Che
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Danqin
D
Li
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Yucheng
Y
Ji
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Yongfeng
Y
Bu
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Qiang
Q
Wu
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Lijun
L
Yang
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Qiang
Q
Chen
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Xizhang
X
Wang
Jiangsu Provincial Lab for Nanotechnology and Key Laboratory of Mesoscopic Chemistry of MOE, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University , Nanjing, Jiangsu 210046 China.
Zheng
Z
Hu
alcohol-tolerant platinum electrocatalyst; fuel cells; molecule-sieving effect; nitrogen-doped carbon nanocages; oxygen reduction