Sluggish kinetics of the electrochemical reduction of molecular oxygen (ORR) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEM-FCs) requires a continued search for advanced catalysts. It has been found that Pd3Fe(111) annealed at high temperature is highly active for ORR, but may lose activity due to slow dissolution of Fe. To address this, we developed a method to improve the stability while maintaining high activity involving a submonolayer amount of Au at the surface. While bulk gold is catalytically inactive, submonolayer amounts of Au deposited on a Pd/Pd3Fe(111) surface was discovered to be highly active. The high activity and durability of this Au-modified Pd3Fe(111) surface is associated with formation of 2D nanostructures at steps. We not only discovered a potential candidate for non-Pt catalysts to replace Pt cathode catalysts for the ORR, but also identified conditions for activating gold for use in practical electrocatalysts.

Formation of Au nanostructures at step edges of Pd<sub>3</sub>Fe(111) and their role in O<sub>2</sub> reduction

244th National Meeting (2012)

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Formation of Au nanostructures at step edges of Pd3Fe(111) and their role in O2 reduction

Formation of Au nanostructures at step edges of Pd₃Fe(111) and their role in O₂ reduction