• Sasaki, Kotaro
• Adzic, Radoslav
• Li, Meng
• Zhang, Junliang
• More, Karren

Abstract

<jats:p>We describe three new methods of metal monolayer/multilayer deposition that make possible syntheses of new types of electrocatalysts for the O2 reduction, and H2 and ethanol oxidation reactions. They consist of a monolayer of Pt deposited on a metal, metal alloy, core-shell, or metal-oxide nanoparticles. The electrocatalysts synthesized using these methods have remarkable properties. For example, for O2 reduction reaction they show up to a 20-fold increase in Pt mass activity compared with conventional all-Pt electrocatalysts. The origin of their increased activity was identified through a combination of experimental methods, employing electrochemical and surface science techniques, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. The long-term tests in fuel cells demonstrated excellent stability of the anode and good stability of the cathode electrocatalysts. These new electrocatalysts promise to alleviate some of the major problems of existing fuel cell technology.</jats:p>

Topics

• nanoparticle
• Deposition
• density
• surface
• theory
• density functional theory
• x-ray absorption spectroscopy