Carbon-supported Pt-Co Nanowires as a Novel Cathode Catalyst for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Carbon-supported Pt-Co nanowires (Pt-Co NWs/C) were prepared through a soft surfactant template method as cathode catalysts for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The mass activity of the Pt-Co NWs/C (0.125 A mg(Pt)(-1)) is 1.5times higher than that of commercial Pt/C for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The accelerated durability test (ADT) showed a loss of 14.7% in electrochemically active surface areas (ECSA) for the Pt-Co NWs/C, and 35% for the Pt/C after 3,000 cycles between 0.6 and 1.15 V, indicating that stability was enhanced for the Pt-Co NWs/C relative to the Pt/C catalyst. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) employed as-synthesized Pt-Co NWs/C as cathode catalyst with a loading of 0.4 mg(PtCo) cm(-2) generated a maximum power density of 2.01 kW g(Pt)(-1), which is higher than that of the Pt/C (1.85 kW g(Pt)(-1)). Besides, after 100 h galvanostatic operation condition of 1,000 mA cm(-2), the Pt-Co NWs/C also exhibited enhanced durability with 71.4 mW cm(-2) mass power density loss and 11.8% ECSA loss, as compared with 99.4 mW cm(-2) and 24.8% for the Pt/C, respectively. These results suggest that the formation of the interconnected nanowire networks structure of Pt-Co NWs/C catalyst is favorable to improve activity and durability.