A remaining challenge for the deployment of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells is the limited durability of platinum (Pt) nanoscale materials that operate at high voltages during the cathodic oxygen reduction reaction. In this work, atomic-scale insight into well-defined single-crystalline, thin-film and nanoscale surfaces exposed Pt dissolution trends that governed the design and synthesis of durable materials. A newly defined metric, intrinsic dissolution, is essential to understanding the correlation between the measured Pt loss, surface structure, size and ratio of Pt nanoparticles in a carbon (C) support. It was found that the utilization of a gold (Au) underlayer promotes ordering of Pt surface atoms towards a (111) structure, whereas Au on the surface selectively protects low-coordinated Pt sites. This mitigation strategy was applied towards 3 nm Pt₃Au/C nanoparticles and resulted in the elimination of Pt dissolution in the liquid electrolyte, which included a 30-fold durability improvement versus 3 nm Pt/C over an extended potential range up to 1.2 V.

部署质子交换膜燃料电池的另一个挑战是铂（Pt）纳米级材料的耐久性有限，该材料在阴极氧还原反应过程中会在高压下工作。在这项工作中，对定义明确的单晶，薄膜和纳米级表面的原子级洞察力揭示了Pt溶解趋势，该趋势控制着耐用材料的设计和合成。新定义的度量标准（固有溶解度）对于理解测得的碳（C）载体中Pt损失，表面结构，尺寸和Pt纳米颗粒比例之间的相关性至关重要。发现利用金（Au）底层促进了Pt表面原子向（111）结构的有序化，而表面上的Au选择性地保护了低配位的Pt位点。₃ Au / C纳米粒子，消除了Pt在液体电解质中的溶解，在高达1.2 V的扩展电位范围内，与3 nm Pt / C相比，耐久性提高了30倍。