Direct Integration of Strained‐Pt Catalysts into Proton‐Exchange‐Membrane Fuel Cells with Atomic Layer Deposition
Shicheng Xu, Zhaoxuan Wang, Samuel Dull, Yunzhi Liu, Dong Un Lee, Juan S. Lezama-Pacheco, Marat Orazov, Per Erik Vullum, Anup L. Dadlani, Olga Vinogradova, Peter Schindler, Qizhan Tam, Thomas D. Schladt, Jonathan E. Mueller, Sebastian Kirsch, Gerold Huebner, Drew Higgins, Jan Torgersen, Venkatasubramanian Viswanathan, Thomas F. Jaramillo, Fritz B. Prinz
Abstract
Abstract The design and fabrication of lattice‐strained platinum catalysts achieved by removing a soluble core from a platinum shell synthesized via atomic layer deposition, is reported. The remarkable catalytic performance for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), measured in both half‐cell and full‐cell configurations, is attributed to the observed lattice strain. By further optimizing the nanoparticle geometry and ionomer/carbon interactions, mass activity close to 0.8 A mg Pt −1 @0.9 V iR‐free is achievable in the membrane electrode assembly. Nevertheless, active catalysts with high ORR activity do not necessarily lead to high performance in the high‐current‐density (HCD) region. More attention shall be directed toward HCD performance for enabling high‐power‐density hydrogen fuel cells.