Tuning the electrocatalytic activity of Pt by structurally ordered PdFe/C for the hydrogen oxidation reaction in alkaline media
Tuning the hydrogen adsorption energy (E H ) by controlling the surface electronic structure of Pt is essential for enhancing the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) performance in alkaline media. This could be achieved by forming a Pt skin on PdFe/C nanoparticles with structurally ordered intermetallic (O-PdFe@Pt/C) or disordered alloy (D-PdFe@Pt/C). The HOR activity on O-PdFe@Pt/C exhibits an exchange current density of 1.49 A mg Pt -1 , which is 3.87 and 7.56 times higher than that on D-PdFe@Pt/C (0.385 A mg Pt -1 ) and Pt/C (0.197 A mg Pt -1 ), respectively. The excellent electrocatalytic HOR performance on O-PdFe@Pt/C can be ascribed to the attenuation of E H on the Pt shell induced by the structurally ordered PdFe core, where the E H on O-PdFe@Pt surface is 0.18 eV smaller than that on Pt according to DFT calculations.