Carbon Supported Octahedral PtNi Nanoparticles (Oct-PtNi/C) as a Cathode Catalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) with Improved Activity and Durability

Zi-Wei Feng, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Modern Separation Analysis and Substance Transformation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, P.R. China
Hai-Zhong Chen, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Modern Separation Analysis and Substance Transformation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, P.R. China
Xiao Duan, State Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials, Yunnan Precious Metals Laboratory Co., Ltd., Kunming, Yunnan, 650106, P.R. China
Ling Tang, State Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials, Yunnan Precious Metals Laboratory Co., Ltd., Kunming, Yunnan, 650106, P.R. China
Yun-kun Zhao, State Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials, Yunnan Precious Metals Laboratory Co., Ltd., Kunming, Yunnan, 650106, P.R. China
Long Huang, Yunnan Key Laboratory of Modern Separation Analysis and Substance Transformation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500, P.R. China; State Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials, Yunnan Precious Metals Laboratory Co., Ltd., Kunming, Yunnan, 650106, P.R. China Follow

Corresponding Author

Long Huang (longhuang@ynnu.edu.cn)

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are considered as a promising renewable power source. However, the massive commercial application of PEMFCs has been greatly hindered by their high expense and less-satisfied performance mainly due to the sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics even on state-of-the-art Pt catalyst. Octahedral PtNi nanoparticles (oct-PtNi NPs) with excellent ORR activity in a half-cell have been widely studied, while their performance in membrane electrode assembly (MEA) has much less reported. Herein, we investigated the MEA performance using the carbon supported oct-PtNi NPs (oct-PtNi/C) as the cathode catalyst. Under the mild acid washing condition, the surface Ni atoms of oct-PtNi/C were largely removed, and the performance of the MEA using the acid-leaching oct-PtNi/C (PNC-A) as the cathode catalyst was greatly improved. The maximum power density of the MEA reached 1.0 W·cm^–2 with the cathode Pt loading of 0.2 mg·cm^–2, which is 15% higher than that using Pt/C as the catalyst. After 30k cycles in the accelerated degradation test (ADT), the MEA using PNC-A as the catalyst showed a performance retention of 82%, higher than that of Pt/C (74%). The results reported here verify the possibility of using PNC-A as an advanced cathode catalyst in PEMFCs, thus enhancing the performance of PEMFCs while lowering the amount of expensive Pt.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell, Octahedral PtNi, Oxygen reduction reaction, Membrane electrode assembly

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.61558/2993-074X.3588

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Date

2026-01-28

Online Available Date

2025-10-13

Revised Date

2025-09-07

Received Date

2025-07-13

Recommended Citation

Zi-Wei Feng, Hai-Zhong Chen, Xiao Duan, Ling Tang, Yun-kun Zhao, Long Huang. Carbon Supported Octahedral PtNi Nanoparticles (Oct-PtNi/C) as a Cathode Catalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs) with Improved Activity and Durability[J]. Journal of Electrochemistry, 2026 , 32(1): 2515009.
DOI: 10.61558/2993-074X.3588
Available at: https://jelectrochem.xmu.edu.cn/journal/vol32/iss1/4

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