Ternary PtPdCu Multicubes as a Highly Active and Durable Catalyst toward the Oxygen Reduction Reaction

Abstract

Abstract It has been reported that a Pt‐based concave‐convex structure offers good electrocatalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Herein, we synthesize ternary PtPdCu multicubes with a hierarchical trepanning concave‐convex structure by a facile solvothermal co‐reduction method. By tailoring the elementary composition, the optimal Pt 45 Pd 30 Cu 25 /C catalyst results in a 2.35‐fold increase in ORR mass activity compared to commercial Pt/C and an excellent long‐term stability. Investigation reveals that the performance enhancement mechanism is mainly caused by the Pd and Cu jointly modified electronic structure of Pt, which facilitates the charge transfer rate as well as the increased number of active sites and improved mass transport by the unique porous multicube concave‐convex structure. Both experiment and theoretical calculations reveal that the three‐elements alloy catalyst and the unique structures play a critical role in high catalytic performance, thus offering guidance to design high‐performance electrocatalysts not only toward the ORR for practical applications in low‐temperature fuel cells, but also for other energy conversion systems rendering a universal significance.