Ultrafine Pt Nanoparticles Supported on Ultrathin Nanobowl-Shaped N-doped Carbon for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

To eliminate the concerns about fuel cell aroused by the scarcity of Pt and the sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), shortening the pathway of mass transfer and optimizing the utilization of Pt are two effective ways. Herein, we report a facile strategy to efficiently anchor ultrafine Pt nanoparticles on ultrathin nanobowl-shaped N-doped carbon (Pt NP@BNC). Ultrathin layers of a two-dimensional covalent organic framework (COF) were synthesized as the support via a hard-template strategy and Pt precursors were homogeneously dispersed in the COF via a gas-phase diffusion method. Then the composite was pyrolyzed and converted into ultrathin nanobowl-shaped N-doped carbon (ca. 6 nm) embedded with ultrafine Pt NPs (ca. 3.28 +/- 0.7 nm). Compared with the catalyst obtained from the bulk COF, Pt NP@BNC achieved significantly elevated activity towards ORR. This work may pave a new way for the design and synthesis of novel ORR catalysts with high efficiency.