Atomically deviated Pd-Te nanoplates boost methanol-tolerant fuel cells

The methanol crossover effect in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) can severely reduce cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance and fuel efficiency. As a result, developing efficient catalysts with simultaneously high ORR activity and excellent antipoisoning methanol capability remains...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zhang, Ying, Huang, Bolong, Luo, Gan, Sun, Tu, Feng, Yonggang, Wang, Yucheng, Ma, Yanhang, Shao, Qi, Li, Yafei, Zhou, Zhiyou, Huang, Xiaoqing
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Association for the Advancement of Science 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7439301/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32832686
http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aba9731
Descripción
Sumario:The methanol crossover effect in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) can severely reduce cathodic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance and fuel efficiency. As a result, developing efficient catalysts with simultaneously high ORR activity and excellent antipoisoning methanol capability remains challenging. Here, we report a class of Pd-Te hexagonal nanoplates (HPs) with a Pd(20)Te(7) phase that simultaneously overcome the activity and methanol-tolerant issues in alkaline DMFC. Because of the specific arrangement of Pd atoms deviated from typical hexagonal close-packing, Pd-Te HPs/C displays extraordinary methanol tolerance with high ORR performance compared with commercial Pt/C. DFT calculations reveal that the high performance of Pd-Te HPs can be attributed to the breakthrough of the linear relationship between OOH* and OH* adsorption, which leaves sufficient room to improve the ORR activity but suppresses the methanol oxidation reaction. The concurrent high ORR activity and excellent methanol tolerance endow Pd-Te HPs as practical electrocatalysts for DMFC and beyond.