Rational Development of Ternary Alloy Electrocatalysts

Improving the efficiency of electrocatalytic reduction of oxygen represents one of the main challenges for the development of renewable energy technologies. Here, we report the systematic evaluation of Pt-ternary alloys (Pt-3(MN)(1) with M, N = Fe, Co, or Ni) as electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). We first studied the ternary systems on extended surfaces of polycrystalline thin films to establish the trend of electrocatalytic activities and then applied this knowledge to synthesize ternary alloy nanocatalysts by a solvothermal approach. This study demonstrates that the ternary alloy catalysts can be compelling systems for further advancement of ORR electrocatalysis, reaching higher catalytic activities than bimetallic Pt alloys and improvement factors of up to 4 versus monometallic Pt.