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Study of the atomic structure and morphology of the Pt3Co nanocatalyst

G Greco1, A Witkowska2, Y Soldo3, E Larquet4, N Menguy4, A Cognigni5, M Minicucci1, E Principi1 and A Di Cicco1,4,5

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It has been shown that Pt3Co nanoparticles used as a catalyst for cathode of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) enhance oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity even by a factor of two compared to pure Pt nanoparticles. The local structure and chemical disorder of a commercially available Pt3Co nanocatalyst supported on high surface area carbon were investigated. High-quality XAFS spectra were collected at the ELETTRA synchrotron XAFS 11.1 beamline. XAFS spectra analysis have been performed accounting for the reduction of the coordination number and degeneracy of three-body configurations, resulting from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) extracted mean particles diameter, size distribution and expected surface atom contributions. The presence of a Co-Co first neighbour EXAFS signal is shown to be related to the degree of the alloy's chemical disorder. This is a good starting point for analyzing the atomic structure of Pt3Co nanocrystalline system and their changes as a function of alloy preparation or working conditions when they operate as a catalyst in PEMFC.


PACS

61.46.Df Structure of nanocrystals and nanoparticles ("colloidal" quantum dots but not gate-isolated embedded quantum dots)

82.65.+r Surface and interface chemistry; heterogeneous catalysis at surfaces

78.70.Dm X-ray absorption spectra

82.45.Jn Surface structure, reactivity and catalysis

82.47.Gh Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells

82.30.-b Specific chemical reactions; reaction mechanisms

Subjects

Condensed matter: electrical, magnetic and optical

Surfaces, interfaces and thin films

Nanoscale science and low-D systems

Chemical physics and physical chemistry

Dates

Issue 1 (2009)



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