CeO2 overlapped with nitrogen-doped carbon layer anchoring Pt nanoparticles as an efficient electrocatalyst towards oxygen reduction reaction

To engineering high-efficient, sustainable and novel Pt-based composite system, a newly Pt-oxide based composites electrocatalyst of CeO2 overlapped with nitrogen-doped carbon layer anchoring Pt nanoparticles (PtCeO2@CN) has been fabricated. In comparison with Pt/C, the results exhibit that PtCeO2@CN possesses a preferable methanol tolerance ability, superior stability (30000 s degradation: 35% for PtCeO2@CN vs. 50% for Pt/C), and more positively the onset potential (16 mV) as well as half-wave potential (29 mV) towards oxygen reduction reaction. Further, the investigation shows that PtCeO2@CN has a certain selectivity with quasi-four electron pathway (n = 3.2-3.3 e(-)). This is attributed to the establishment of nitrogen-doped carbon layer structure, which heightens the conductivity of CeO2, further promotes electron transfer between Pt and CeO2, as well as strengthens the anchoring effect for Pt nanoparticles. Overall, this study would shed bright light to develop some effective Pt-oxide based composite electrocatalysts. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.