The Pt@Au catalysts demonstrate remarkably high oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared with Pt/C catalysts. The ORR of Pt(2)@Au(1)/C and Pt(1)@Au(2)/C is 9.5 and 6.6 times that of Pt/C, respectively. This improvement is attributed to the electronic structure effect of the Au core on the Pt shell and introduction of PFSA.

Owing to their high energy-conversion efficiency, low or even zero emission, and high energy and power density, fuel cells such as proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) have drawn tremendous attention as potential clean and efficient power sources for both electric vehicles and portable electronics. A major limiting factor of energy-conversion efficie...

We report an anomalous phenomenon in Pt supported on thiolated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Pt-S-MWNT): oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity increases with accelerated durability test (ADT) cycles. Sub-nanometer-sized Pt clusters on S-MWNT were gradually agglomerated to an optimal size with ADT cycles, and finally showed increased ORR activity after the ADT.

Metal-free N-doped carbons with controllable pore texture were derived from carbonization of ionic liquid and served as catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with an activity comparable to that of Pt/C. The investigation shows that both the ORR activity and kinetics are strongly correlated with the pore size distribution.

We have synthesized sub-10 nm Pd cubic and octahedral nanocrystals and then evaluated their activities towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The ORR activity of Pd nanocubes was one order of magnitude higher than that of Pd octahedra, and comparable to that of the state-of-the-art Pt catalysts.

The cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is an important process in fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Although Pt-based electrocatalysts have been commonly used in commercial fuel cells owing to their relatively low overpotential and high current density, they still suffer from serious intermediate tolerance, anode crossover, sluggish kinetics, and poor stability in an electrochemical env...