High-Performance Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells Enabled by Nitrogen Configuration Optimization in Graphene-Coated Nickel for Enhanced Hydrogen Oxidation

Anion exchange membrane fuel cell (AEMFC) technology is attracting intensive attention, due to its great potential by using non-precious-metal catalysts (NPMCs) in the cathode and cheap bipolar plate materials in alkaline media. However, in such case, the kinetics of hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in the anode is two orders of magnitude sluggish than that of acidic electrolytes, which is recognized as the grand challenge in this field. Herein, we report the rationally designed Ni nanoparticles encapsulated by N-doped graphene layers (Ni@NG) using a facile pyrolysis strategy. Based on the density functional theory calculations and electrochemical performance analysis, it is witnessed that the rich Pyridinic-N within the graphene shell optimizes the binding energy of the intermediates, thus enabling the fundamentally enhanced activity for HOR with robust stability. As a proof of concept, the resultant Ni@NG sample as the anode with a low loading (1.8 mg cm⁻²) in AEMFCs delivers a high peak power density of 500 mW cm⁻², outperforming all of those of NPMC-based analogs ever reported.