Atomically deviated Pd-Te nanoplates boost methanol-tolerant fuel cells.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32832686.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aba9731 and PMC identifier 7439301.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
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<sub>20</sub>Te<sub>7</sub> 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.