Journal of Inorganic Materials

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Preparation and Oxygen Reduction Performance of Core-shell High Index Pt3-xCo@Ptx/C nanocatalysts

WANG Xuan1,2,3, GUO Ruihua1,2,3, AN Shengli1,2,3, SUN Tingting1,2,3, LIU Yuanyuan2, YUE Shuaijun4   

  1. 1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China;
    2. Inner Mongolia Key Laboratory of Advanced Ceramic Materials and Devices, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China;
    3. Key Laboratory of Green Extraction & Efficient Utilization of Light Rare-Earth Resources, Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology, Baotou 014010, China;
    4. Baotou Research Institute of Rare Earths, Baotou 014030, China
  • Received:2026-04-21 Revised:2026-06-19
  • Contact: GUO Ruihua, professor. E-mail: grh7810@163.com
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (51864040); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Science and Technology Program (2025YFHH0050, 2021GG0042); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Youth Science and Technology Excellence in Higher Education (NJYT22064)

Abstract: Hydrogen fuel cells have become a research hotspot in the field of new-energy electrochemistry owing to their prominent technical merits, including high energy-conversion efficiency, zero environmental pollution and favorable environmental compatibility. At present, commercial catalysts commonly suffer from high noble-metal loading, sluggish catalytic reaction kinetics, and insufficient catalytic efficiency. In this study, high-index Pt-Co alloy seeds were synthesized via the hydrothermal method. Subsequently, the core-shell structure was precisely fabricated through the epitaxial reductive growth of the Pt shell, and a series of high-index core-shell nanocatalysts of Pt3-xCo@Ptx/C(x=0.3, 0.6, 0.9) were obtained. Results demonstrate that the as-prepared catalysts display high-index concave morphology, and the surface of Pt2.4Co@Pt0.6/C mainly exposes {310} and {410} high-index facets. ORR measurements reveal that its electrochemical active surface area (ECSA) reaches 63.05 m2·g-1, which is 1.9 times that of the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The mass activity (MA) is 299 mA·mgPt-1, 2.3-fold higher than that of commercial Pt/C. After 5000 potential cycles, its half-wave potential only decays by 15 mV, demonstrating outstanding ORR catalytic activity and stability. This is attributed to the unique core-shell structure that couples the strain effect and electronic modulation effect, which precisely tunes the d-band center of Pt and optimizes the adsorption-desorption behavior of ORR intermediates. By investigating the catalytic synergistic mechanism of the high-index core-shell structure, this work provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the controllable fabrication of high-performance ORR catalysts applied to hydrogen fuel cells.

Key words: hydrogen cell, oxygen reduction reaction, core-shell structure, high-index facet

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