Gram-Scale Synthesis of CoO/C as Base for PtCo/C High-Performance Catalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

The composition, structure, catalytic activity in the ORR and stability of PtCo/C materials, obtained in two stages and compared with commercial Pt/C analogs, were studied. At the first stage of the synthesis performed by electrodeposition of cobalt on a carbon support, a CoOx/C composite containing 8% and 25 wt% cobalt oxide was successfully obtained. In the second step, PtCoOx/C catalysts of Pt1.56Co and Pt1.12Co composition containing 14 and 30 wt% Pt, respectively, were synthesized based on the previously obtained composites. According to the results of the composition and structure analysis of the obtained PtCoOx/C catalysts by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) methods, the formation of small bimetallic nanoparticles on the carbon support surface has been proved. The resulting catalysts demonstrated up to two times higher specific catalytic activity in the ORR and high stability compared to commercial Pt/C analogs.