Pt@Co-B catalyzed direct borohydride fuel cell anode: rational design and performance evaluation

A special core-shell structure catalyst is designed, synthesized and tested in a fuel cell by a simple process of embedding a platinum nanocrystal with an amorphous Co-B shell (Pt@Co-B), which is called "caystals@amorphous crystals (C@AC)." This new material shows excellent catalytic activity as an anode catalyst of direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) with the maximum power output of 110 mW cm-2 at 25 degrees C. Pt@Co-B with such highly power density, outperformed some noble metal and bimetallic catalysts which are recently reported in the literature. The cell has good durability, with no observed attenuation after 154 h. We speculate that this excellent catalytic performance can be due to the synergistic effect between amorphous shell and crystalline core.