Institute of Fuel Cells, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Abstract: A drastic reduction in the Pt loading of cathodes is urgently desired for the commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The application of ultra-low Pt loading (≦0.1 gPt/kW) cathode comes up with two challenging research topics, one deals with the exploration on the local mass transport surrounding Pt particles in the catalyst layer, and the other involves in controlled synthesis of ultra-low Pt electrocatalysts. Herein, effective strategies have been developed to synthesize a series of ultra-low Pt electrocatalysts with both controlled compositions and structures, and investigated as the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst. The corresponding synthetic mechanisms and key influences on the catalytic activity, electrochemical stability as well as utilization toward the ORR are comprehensively elucidated. It is believed that the discussion will provide a solid scientific guideline for the development of ultra-low Pt PEMFCs.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21533005 and 21373135) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFB0101201 and 2016YFB0101312).

*Corresponding author. Tel.: (+86) 213420 7439; fax: (+86) 21 3420 6249.

E-mail: junliang.zhang@sjtu.edu.cn