| Abstract: | The electrocatalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on carbon supported Pt:V 1:1 catalyst in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFC) was investigated. At an oxygen pressure of 1 atm results indicate a lower electrocatalytic activity for the ORR in the presence of vanadium. However, at an O2 pressure ≥2 atm an enhanced electrocatalytic property of PtV/C compared with Pt/C is revealed. This result indicates the occurrence of a different electrocatalytic mechanism for the ORR on Pt/C and PtV/C. An increase of mass transport overpotentials is observed for the PtV/C catalyst, and this was related to the presence of vanadium oxide. Indeed, XRD analysis revealed that only about 30% of V present in the catalyst is alloyed with Pt, forming a face centred cubic (fcc) Pt3V solid solution. A thermal treatment at 850 °C under reducing atmosphere leads to the formation of an ordered fcc Pt2V phase. After this, the ORR activity of PtV/C at O2 pressure 1 atm is higher than that of Pt/C. |
