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Synergistic catalysis opens up a new venue to improve the comprehensive application of the catalyst. Herein, a composite catalyst (Mo-Pd@N-C) consisting of the N-doped carbon derived from pyrolysis of spherical polypyrrole and MoPd nanoparticles (NPs) was constructed to emphasize the strong metal–support interaction for robust oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The enhanced anchoring between the MoPd NPs and the substrate, and the N-species formed on the carbon matrix make the Mo-Pd@N-C deliver excellent performance with a half-wave potential of 0.945 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) for ORR, superior than that of commercial Pt/C (0.86 V). More importantly, it shows a negligible half-wave potential decline (< 5 mV) and only ~ 20% of mass activity (MA) attenuation after 30,000 cycles stability test, obviously better than those of Pt/C (~ 70% of MA attenuation and ~ 30 mV of half-wave potential decline after only 15,000 cycles). This work highlights a novel synergistic method to prolong the life and improve the commercial prospects of the catalysts.


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Synergetic N-doped carbon with MoPd alloy for robust oxygen reduction reaction

Show Author's information Chaojie Cen,§Wenjing Tang,§Tonghui Zhao,§( )Yun SongYun YangQuanlong XuWei Chen( )
Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Carbon Materials, College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China

§ Chaojie Cen, Wenjing Tang, and Tonghui Zhao contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Synergistic catalysis opens up a new venue to improve the comprehensive application of the catalyst. Herein, a composite catalyst (Mo-Pd@N-C) consisting of the N-doped carbon derived from pyrolysis of spherical polypyrrole and MoPd nanoparticles (NPs) was constructed to emphasize the strong metal–support interaction for robust oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The enhanced anchoring between the MoPd NPs and the substrate, and the N-species formed on the carbon matrix make the Mo-Pd@N-C deliver excellent performance with a half-wave potential of 0.945 V (vs. reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE)) for ORR, superior than that of commercial Pt/C (0.86 V). More importantly, it shows a negligible half-wave potential decline (< 5 mV) and only ~ 20% of mass activity (MA) attenuation after 30,000 cycles stability test, obviously better than those of Pt/C (~ 70% of MA attenuation and ~ 30 mV of half-wave potential decline after only 15,000 cycles). This work highlights a novel synergistic method to prolong the life and improve the commercial prospects of the catalysts.

Keywords: stability, oxygen reduction reaction, N-doped carbon, synergistic catalysis, MoPd alloy

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 15 February 2023
Revised: 05 March 2023
Accepted: 06 March 2023
Published: 11 April 2023
Issue date: July 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21671152 and 52171145), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LY20B010004), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2021M703071).

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