Ultrathin Icosahedral Pt-Enriched Nanocage with Excellent Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity

Abstract

Cost-efficient utilization of Pt in the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great importance for the potential industrial scale demand of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells. Designing a hollow structure of a Pt catalyst offers a great opportunity to enhance the electrocatalytic performance and maximize the use of precious Pt. Herein we report a routine to synthesize ultrathin icosahedral Pt-enriched nanocages. In detail, the Pt atoms were conformally deposited on the surface of Pd icosahedral seeds, followed by selective removal of the Pd core by a concentrated HNO₃ solution. The icosahedral Pt-enriched nanocage that is a few atomic layers thick includes the merits of abundant twin defects, an ultrahigh surface/volume ratio, and an ORR-favored Pt{111} facet, all of which have been demonstrated to be promoting factors for ORR. With a 10 times higher specific activity and 7 times higher mass activity, this catalyst shows more extraordinary ORR activity than the commercial Pt/C. The ORR activity of icosahedral Pt-enriched nanocages outperforms the cubic and octahedral nanocages reported in the literature, demonstrating the superiority of the icosahedral nanocage structure.