NbOx nano-nail with a Pt head embedded in carbon as a highly active and durable oxygen reduction catalyst

Further enhancing activity and durability of Pt-based catalysts for oxygen reduction is needed for the automotive application of fuel cells. This is however a very challenging task. Herein, we describe a new method to nail down low-oxidation-state NbOx nanoparticles at high temperature without overgrowth using the surface pores on carbon and then deposit Pt head selectively on top of NbOx derived by the redox reduction between themselves. This new structured catalyst, Pt-NbOxC, exhibited mass activities higher than 0.5 A mg−1 after 50,000 cycles between 0.6 and 1.0 V and 5,000 cycles between 1 and 1.5 V, which are 7 and 4 times of the 0.07 and 0.13 A mg−1, respectively, on Pt/C. That high sustainable ORR activity is ascribed to strong metal-support interaction that maximizes Pt utilization and minimizes particle agglomeration, carbon corrosion and metal oxidation. Furthermore, the method embedded nanoparticles into carbon pores will likely be used in developing small particles with uniform dispersion for various applications.