Tuning the activity of Pt(111) for oxygen electroreduction by subsurface alloying

Ifan E.L. Stephens, Alexander S. Bondarenko, Francisco J. Perez-Alonso, Federico Calle-Vallejo, Lone Bech, Tobias P. Johansson, Anders K. Jepsen, Rasmus Frydendal, Brian P. Knudsen, Jan Rossmeisl, Ib Chorkendorff

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

460 Scopus citations

Abstract

To enable the development of low temperature fuel cells, significant improvements are required to the efficiency of the Pt electrocatalysts at the cathode, where oxygen reduction takes place. Herein, we study the effect of subsurface solute metals on the reactivity of Pt, using a Cu/Pt(111) near-surface alloy. Our investigations incorporate electrochemical measurements, ultrahigh vacuum experiments, and density functional theory. Changes to the OH binding energy, δE OH, were monitored in situ and adjusted continuously through the subsurface Cu coverage. The incorporation of submonolayer quantities of Cu into Pt(111) resulted in an 8-fold improvement in oxygen reduction activity. The most optimal catalyst for oxygen reduction has an δE OH ≈ 0.1 eV weaker than that of pure Pt, validating earlier theoretical predictions.(Figure Presented)

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)5485-5491
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of the American Chemical Society
Volume133
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 13 Apr 2011
Externally publishedYes

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