Highly stable Pt and PtPd hybrid catalysts supported on a nitrogen-modified carbon composite for fuel cell application

The durability and cost of fuel cell cathode catalysts are major technical barriers to the commercialization of fuel cells for vehicle applications. In this work, novel Pt and PtPd hybrid catalysts are developed that use a nitrogen-modified carbon composite (NMCC), which is itself active for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), instead of a conventional carbon black support. The fuel cell accelerated stress test (AST) for supports and catalysts demonstrated that the Pt₃Pd₁/NMCC and Pt/NMCC hybrid catalysts possess much higher stability than Pt/C catalysts in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Moreover, the hybrid catalysts exhibit higher mass activity than the Pt/C catalysts. The origin of the hybrid catalysts’ improved performance relative to Pt/C is discussed in light of pore size distribution and surface area analysis, XRD, XPS, and TEM analyses and electrochemical measurements.