Fuel cells represent a promising vector of clean energy to improve the quality of life and for a cleaner environment. However, major challenges in the existing fuel cell devices include the sluggish cathode reaction and the high amount of platinum group metals in the catalysts. It is of great importance to develop catalysts with lower cost and higher activity and stability. In this work, we focus on the synthesis of multimetallic nanoparticle catalysts by alloying platinum with other low-cost transition metals such as copper and cobalt. By alloying, not only the cost is reduced but the stability and the activity are also significantly enhanced. The results from an investigation of the synthesis and preparation of platinum-copper-cobalt nanoalloys with tunable size and composition will be discussed. The detailed morphological and structural characterizations of the ternary nanoalloys will also be discussed, attempting to better understand the nanostructural correlation with the catalytic properties.

Synthesis and characterization of composition-controllable platinum-copper-cobalt nanoalloy catalysts

256th National Meeting (2018)

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