Research progress in non-platinum fuel cells electrocatalysts

Commercial platinum carbon catalysts are expensive, and thus the development of nonplatinum materials is a key step to promote the commercialization of fuel cells. In this paper, the research background of electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cells has been introduced firstly, then the catalysts conformed by non-noble metals, non-metals and composite materials have been introduced respectively, and the active sites and catalytic mechanism of various catalysts have been briefly reviewed. Among them, the nitrogen carbides of transition metal, with the advantages of low cost, high catalytic activity and excellent stability, are the most promising to replace the precious metal Pt for the catalysts. The doping of heteroatoms can change the surface charge distribution and hence enhance the catalytic activity of carbon materials. By effectively combining the transition metal nitrogen carbides with carbon materials with special structures, composite materials with dual functions can be designed. Finally, the existing problems of non-platinum catalysts have been analyzed and several directions for future work have been proposed, which can provide reference for future research of non-platinum electrocatalysts. The development of non-platinum catalysts with high activity and stability will be the key research direction in the future. © 2019, Chemical Industry Press. All right reserved.