A highly stable Tungsten-Doped TiO2-Supported platinum electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in acidic media

The carbon-supported platinum electrocatalyst's severe carbon corrosion issue in acidic media limits the wide-spread application of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). Therefore, exploring novel noncarbon supports with improved corrosion resistance is needed to resolve this problem. This research presented tungsten -modified titanium dioxide (W-doped TiO2) support for the Pt catalyst toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). W-doped TiO2 showed a higher surface area and more Ti3+ defect sites and oxygen vacancies than the undoped TiO2 support, which enhanced strong metal support interaction for the deposited Pt catalyst. Furthermore, the high ORR activity of the Pt/W-doped TiO2 catalyst was demonstrated using a high electro-chemical surface area of 44.1 m2/gPt and mass activity value of 41.22 A/gPt for electrochemical performance in 0.1 M HClO4. Moreover, the rotating ring-disk electrode measurement of the Pt/W-doped TiO2 catalyst under acidic conditions showed a four-electron pathway with an ultrasmall peroxide yield of 0.42 %. Particularly, the durability test showed that the Pt/W-doped TiO2 had a remarkable stability compared to commercial catalysts. Therefore, this study provides a promising pathway to improve the stability of Pt-based catalysts for PEMFCs.