Influence of Pt-metal alloy catalysts with various ionomers on oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell application

Xiang Lyu; Tim Van Cleve; Haoran Yu; Erica Young; Leiming Hu; Jun Yang; K. C. Neyerlin; Alexey Serov

doi:10.1016/j.jece.2026.121863

Influence of Pt-metal alloy catalysts with various ionomers on oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell application

Xiang Lyu
, Tim Van Cleve
, Haoran Yu
, Erica Young
, Leiming Hu
, Jun Yang
, K. C. Neyerlin
, Alexey Serov

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Pt-M/C (M = Co, Ni, Mn, etc.) alloy catalysts exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared to pure Pt/C, leading to a high energy efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells. However, many Pt-M/C alloy catalysts were synthesized and evaluated at the lab scale in model test-bed systems like rotating disc electrodes, which don’t always correlate to performance within a fuel cell system; there is a clear need to evaluate catalysts in electrodes that can be prepared at industrially relevant scales to evaluate how factors like ink formulation can greatly affect device-level of fuel cell performance. Herein, three commercial Pt-M/C alloy catalysts (two Pt-Co/C and one Pt-Ni/C) were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The results show that the average particle sizes of the three catalysts are close to 5 nm; the atomic ratio of Pt/M is around 4; and the M was successfully embedded into Pt lattice, resulting in the positive shift of Pt 4 f in XPS spectra and XRD patterns. These catalytic materials were incorporated into 9 different cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) with three kinds of ionomers (Nafion D2020, high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI), and Aquivion D79–25BS), and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. The results demonstrate that the Pt-Co/C catalysts possess a higher mass activity (MA) than Pt-Ni/C; the cathodes with Nafion ionomer provide the highest MA while electrodes with Aquivion ionomer showed the lowest activity, attributed to poor H⁺ conductivity resulting from suboptimal ionomer incorporation. Finally, these alloys were shown to exceed DOE targets for MA and H₂/Air performance reported in the recent publications at beginning of life and after 90k cycle catalyst AST protocol. This study provides valuable performance benchmarks for these materials guiding future Pt-M/C catalyst design and material integration for heavy duty PEMFC applications.

Original language	English
Article number	121863
Journal	Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering
Volume	14
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jece.2026.121863
State	Published - Apr 2026

Funding

This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05–00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, the manager and operator of the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36–08GO28308. This material is based on work performed by the Million Mile Fuel Cell Truck (M2FCT) Consortium, technology manager Greg Kleen. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Critical Materials and Energy Innovation (CMEI), Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO). Electron microscopy analysis was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), which is a U.S. Department of Energy, Oﬃce of Science User Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The authors recognize the Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) and the Solar Energy Research Facility (SERF) operations team at NLR for enabling this research. While we do not recommend or endorse the use of any materials, we appreciate the collaboration with Chemours and specifically Andrew Park in obtaining the HOPI ionomer utilized in portions of this study. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. Government. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

Keywords

Fuel cell
HOPI ionomer
Nafion ionomer
Oxygen reduction reaction
Pt-Metal alloy catalysts

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10.1016/j.jece.2026.121863

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title = "Influence of Pt-metal alloy catalysts with various ionomers on oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell application",

abstract = "Pt-M/C (M = Co, Ni, Mn, etc.) alloy catalysts exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared to pure Pt/C, leading to a high energy efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells. However, many Pt-M/C alloy catalysts were synthesized and evaluated at the lab scale in model test-bed systems like rotating disc electrodes, which don{\textquoteright}t always correlate to performance within a fuel cell system; there is a clear need to evaluate catalysts in electrodes that can be prepared at industrially relevant scales to evaluate how factors like ink formulation can greatly affect device-level of fuel cell performance. Herein, three commercial Pt-M/C alloy catalysts (two Pt-Co/C and one Pt-Ni/C) were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The results show that the average particle sizes of the three catalysts are close to 5 nm; the atomic ratio of Pt/M is around 4; and the M was successfully embedded into Pt lattice, resulting in the positive shift of Pt 4 f in XPS spectra and XRD patterns. These catalytic materials were incorporated into 9 different cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) with three kinds of ionomers (Nafion D2020, high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI), and Aquivion D79–25BS), and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. The results demonstrate that the Pt-Co/C catalysts possess a higher mass activity (MA) than Pt-Ni/C; the cathodes with Nafion ionomer provide the highest MA while electrodes with Aquivion ionomer showed the lowest activity, attributed to poor H⁺ conductivity resulting from suboptimal ionomer incorporation. Finally, these alloys were shown to exceed DOE targets for MA and H2/Air performance reported in the recent publications at beginning of life and after 90k cycle catalyst AST protocol. This study provides valuable performance benchmarks for these materials guiding future Pt-M/C catalyst design and material integration for heavy duty PEMFC applications.",

keywords = "Fuel cell, HOPI ionomer, Nafion ionomer, Oxygen reduction reaction, Pt-Metal alloy catalysts",

author = "Xiang Lyu and \{Van Cleve\}, Tim and Haoran Yu and Erica Young and Leiming Hu and Jun Yang and Neyerlin, \{K. C.\} and Alexey Serov",

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year = "2026",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1016/j.jece.2026.121863",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

journal = "Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering",

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T1 - Influence of Pt-metal alloy catalysts with various ionomers on oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell application

AU - Lyu, Xiang

AU - Van Cleve, Tim

AU - Yu, Haoran

AU - Young, Erica

AU - Hu, Leiming

AU - Yang, Jun

AU - Neyerlin, K. C.

AU - Serov, Alexey

PY - 2026/4

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N2 - Pt-M/C (M = Co, Ni, Mn, etc.) alloy catalysts exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared to pure Pt/C, leading to a high energy efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells. However, many Pt-M/C alloy catalysts were synthesized and evaluated at the lab scale in model test-bed systems like rotating disc electrodes, which don’t always correlate to performance within a fuel cell system; there is a clear need to evaluate catalysts in electrodes that can be prepared at industrially relevant scales to evaluate how factors like ink formulation can greatly affect device-level of fuel cell performance. Herein, three commercial Pt-M/C alloy catalysts (two Pt-Co/C and one Pt-Ni/C) were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The results show that the average particle sizes of the three catalysts are close to 5 nm; the atomic ratio of Pt/M is around 4; and the M was successfully embedded into Pt lattice, resulting in the positive shift of Pt 4 f in XPS spectra and XRD patterns. These catalytic materials were incorporated into 9 different cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) with three kinds of ionomers (Nafion D2020, high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI), and Aquivion D79–25BS), and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. The results demonstrate that the Pt-Co/C catalysts possess a higher mass activity (MA) than Pt-Ni/C; the cathodes with Nafion ionomer provide the highest MA while electrodes with Aquivion ionomer showed the lowest activity, attributed to poor H⁺ conductivity resulting from suboptimal ionomer incorporation. Finally, these alloys were shown to exceed DOE targets for MA and H2/Air performance reported in the recent publications at beginning of life and after 90k cycle catalyst AST protocol. This study provides valuable performance benchmarks for these materials guiding future Pt-M/C catalyst design and material integration for heavy duty PEMFC applications.

AB - Pt-M/C (M = Co, Ni, Mn, etc.) alloy catalysts exhibit superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity compared to pure Pt/C, leading to a high energy efficiency in hydrogen fuel cells. However, many Pt-M/C alloy catalysts were synthesized and evaluated at the lab scale in model test-bed systems like rotating disc electrodes, which don’t always correlate to performance within a fuel cell system; there is a clear need to evaluate catalysts in electrodes that can be prepared at industrially relevant scales to evaluate how factors like ink formulation can greatly affect device-level of fuel cell performance. Herein, three commercial Pt-M/C alloy catalysts (two Pt-Co/C and one Pt-Ni/C) were comprehensively characterized by various techniques. The results show that the average particle sizes of the three catalysts are close to 5 nm; the atomic ratio of Pt/M is around 4; and the M was successfully embedded into Pt lattice, resulting in the positive shift of Pt 4 f in XPS spectra and XRD patterns. These catalytic materials were incorporated into 9 different cathode catalyst layers (CCLs) with three kinds of ionomers (Nafion D2020, high oxygen permeability ionomer (HOPI), and Aquivion D79–25BS), and their performance in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were investigated. The results demonstrate that the Pt-Co/C catalysts possess a higher mass activity (MA) than Pt-Ni/C; the cathodes with Nafion ionomer provide the highest MA while electrodes with Aquivion ionomer showed the lowest activity, attributed to poor H⁺ conductivity resulting from suboptimal ionomer incorporation. Finally, these alloys were shown to exceed DOE targets for MA and H2/Air performance reported in the recent publications at beginning of life and after 90k cycle catalyst AST protocol. This study provides valuable performance benchmarks for these materials guiding future Pt-M/C catalyst design and material integration for heavy duty PEMFC applications.

KW - Fuel cell

KW - HOPI ionomer

KW - Nafion ionomer

KW - Oxygen reduction reaction

KW - Pt-Metal alloy catalysts

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DO - 10.1016/j.jece.2026.121863

M3 - Article

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SN - 2213-3437

VL - 14

JO - Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

JF - Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

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M1 - 121863

ER -

Influence of Pt-metal alloy catalysts with various ionomers on oxygen reduction reaction in fuel cell application

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Keywords

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