Current progress of Pt and Pt-based electrocatalysts used for fuel cells

Abstract

Due to the growing demand for energy and impending environmental issues, fuel cells have attracted significant attention as an alternative to conventional energy technologies. As cost is the main inhibitor of this technology, low cost catalysts with high activity and stable catalytic performance are the key to large scale application of fuel cells. The development and recent advancements of Pt and Pt-based electrocatalysts are discussed in this review. Discussion is mainly focused on the structure and composition of Pt and Pt-based electrocatalysts, which significantly affect the catalytic activities and durability of fuel cell catalysts. The electrocatalysts including Pt single metal, Pt-based alloys (including noble alloys, non-noble alloys, metal oxide alloys, and non-metal alloys), and structure-controlled alloys (nanopolyhedra, nanodendrites, and hollow and core–shell structures) were discussed. The activity, stability, and efficiency of Pt and Pt-based catalysts for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) as well as the correlation between the catalytic performance, structure optimization, and composition modulation of catalysts are also discussed.