(Invited) Facile and Scalable Production of an Intermetallic Nanocatalyst for High-Power Proton-Exchange-Membrane Fuel Cell

With universal attention to sustainable development, the eco-friendly generation of energy has been emerging as one of the most important tasks. Proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are one of the key solutions to this urgent problem due to their clean energy generation. However, a complicated reaction environment has been limiting its power performance for industrial applications, such as 1) catalytic activity, 2) oxygen mass transfer, and 3) proton conduction at the cathode catalyst layer. To handle all these critical factors, a holistic design and elaborate synthesis of catalyst are imperative without compromising the scalability of synthesis. Here, we present a straightforward but exquisite synthetic approach that addresses the aforementioned practical issues and demonstrate an excellent PEMFC power performance. The crystalline ionic compound ([Co(bpy)3]2+[PtCl6]2-, bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) enabled a carbon shell-protected growth of intermetallic nanoparticles with N-doping on the entire mesoporous carbon support via a simple thermal annealing process. The overall structure of the catalyst simultaneously tackled the critical issues in PEMFC, including ORR kinetics (by strained Pt-skin surface on intermetallic Pt-Co core), oxygen mass transfer (by high ECSA and mesoporous N-doped carbon support), and proton conduction (by stabilized Co species in intermetallic core and Pt-skin) with desirable durability. This study highlights the importance of meeting all the critical parameters to achieve much higher fuel cell power performance through the development of a facile and scalable production method of catalyst.