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De-Alloyed PtCu/C Catalysts of Oxygen Electroreduction

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Abstract

Platinum-containing bimetallic nanoparticles manifest high functional characteristics as electrocatalysts. To use PtCu/C catalysts in low-temperature fuel cells, it is necessary to minimize selective copper dissolution, as copper cations can pollute the polymer membrane and decrease its proton conductivity. The work determines the composition, measures the electrochemically active surface area, and studies the electrochemical behavior of PtCu/C catalysts containing nanoparticles with a “core–shell” structure in the initial state (as-prepared) and after pretreatment in solutions of different acids. The comparative determination of catalyst activity in an electrochemical cell and their testing in a membrane-electrode assembly of fuel cells showed that pretreated PtCu/C materials with a much better stability as compared to Pt/C were also noninferior to the latter as regards their activity in the oxygen electroreduction reaction.

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Notes

  1. The term of “weakly bound” copper in this context is not necessarily related to a particular chemical state of individual copper atoms. It only reflects the fact that some fraction of copper atoms passes into the solution in the form of Cu2+ cations, while the rest of them remain in bimetallic nanoparticles.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Center for Collective Usage of International Research Center of South Federal University and senior researcher T.A. Lastovin for help in thermogravimetric studies.

Funding

The work is supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation (project no. 16-19-10115). The part of work carried out by Gerasimova E.V. was performed in accordance with the state task, state registration no. АААА-19-119061890019-5.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South Federal University, Chemical Faculty, 344090, Rostov-on-Don, Russia

    S. A. Kirakosyan, A. A. Alekseenko, V. E. Guterman, I. N. Novomlinskii, V. S. Men’shchikov & A. Yu. Nikulin

  2. Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142432, Chernogolovka, Moscow oblast, Russia

    E. V. Gerasimova

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  1. S. A. Kirakosyan
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  2. A. A. Alekseenko
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  3. V. E. Guterman
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  4. I. N. Novomlinskii
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  5. V. S. Men’shchikov
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  6. E. V. Gerasimova
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Correspondence to A. A. Alekseenko.

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Translated by M. Ehrenburg

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Kirakosyan, S.A., Alekseenko, A.A., Guterman, V.E. et al. De-Alloyed PtCu/C Catalysts of Oxygen Electroreduction. Russ J Electrochem 55, 1258–1268 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1023193519120085

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