A review on amorphous noble-metal-based electrocatalysts for fuel cells: Synthesis, characterization, performance, and future perspective

An urgent need for cleaner energy alternatives has driven the research of fuel cells, and consequently, electrocatalysts. Noble metals such as Pt and Pd are well known as the most suitable catalysts for fuel cell reactions. However, because of their high costs, much effort has been invested to improve their efficiency. Amorphous noble metal nanoparticles are promising electrocatalysts because of their abundant uncoordinated active sites that result from their long-range disordered lattice. Researches on amorphous Pt-and Pd-based catalysts have progressed well with several different synthesis routes. This review aims to systematically study the differences, advantages, and disadvantages of these methods and the resulting characteristics, performance in fuel cell applications, and future prospects of the amorphous Pt-and Pd-based catalysts. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Research on amorphous noble metal nanoparticles as promising electrocatalysts has made significant progress with several different synthesis routes. Amorphous Pt-and Pd-based catalysts show potential for fuel cell applications due to their abundant uncoordinated active sites.