Development of novel precious-metal free electrocatalysts such as oxide-based perovskites is highly desirable as projections indicate that the costs associated with Pt can contribute up to half of the overall cost of low-T fuel cells, electrolyzers, and other electrochemical devices. Tackling this challenge requires an interdisciplinary approach spanning materials science, electrocatalysis, materials characterization, and device fabrication and testing. Our catalyst development approach involves two important advances: i) a novel synthesis process for the production of compositionally-complex perovskite oxide catalysts with extremely small particle size (~10 nm) that results in order of magnitude higher surface areas (˃50 m<sup>2</sup>/g) than those reported in the literature using current techniques (~5 m<sup>2</sup>/g); ii) identification of  doping strategies to tune the perovskite catalyst structure and chemistry to achieve maximum intrinsic catalytic activity. Combined, these advances have the potential to lead to breakthrough ORR performance at a fraction of the cost of current precious-metal catalysts. Furthermore, the oxide catalysts developed by this approach can also be directed to other energy applications, including metal-air batteries and water splitting.

Oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalysts based on perovskite oxides

249th National Meeting (2015)

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