Facile Synthesis of Nanoporous Pt‐Encapsulated Ir Black as a Bifunctional Oxygen Catalyst via Modified Polyol Process at Room Temperature

Abstract

Abstract The exploitation of a bifunctional oxygen catalyst with high efficiency is crucial for a high‐performance unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC). However, the existing bifunctional oxygen catalysts still suffer from low catalytic efficiency due to sluggish oxygen electrode reactions toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Herein, we report on a facile synthesis of nanoporous Pt‐encapsulated Ir black with Pt/Ir mass ratio of 55/45 (Pt 55 @Ir 45 ) via a newly modified polyol process at room temperature with the aid of water. The resulting Pt 55 @Ir 45 catalyst demonstrated to be highly efficient and robust for both ORR and OER, relative to a mixture of commercial Pt and Ir black with Pt/Ir mass ratio of 50/50 (Pt 50 /Ir 50 ). Mass activity of Pt 55 @Ir 45 presented an 8.7‐ and 1.6‐fold increase toward ORR and OER, respectively, compared with the Pt 50 /Ir 50 catalyst. The enhanced bifunctional performance was rationalized in terms of the maximized Pt utilization, achieved by the excellent dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, and the nanoporous Pt layer constructing a conductive network without impeding the transport of oxygen and water molecules. Our work demonstrates an effective means to encapsulate nanoporous Pt layers on Ir black for the fabrication of bifunctional oxygen catalysts.