High‐Performance Intermetallic Pt ₃ Co/C Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction Synthesized by Pre‐Lithiation Method

Abstract Fuel cells are recognized as promising alternatives to existing conventional energy systems for a sustainable future. However, the synthesis of efficient and robust platinum (Pt) based catalysts remains a challenge for practical fuel cell applications. Herein, the Pt 3 Co/C nanoparticles with about 4.45 nm are firstly prepared by a “pre‐lithiation‐deposition” strategy on C carrier and used as efficient electrocatalysts for cathodic oxygen reduction reaction. Notably, after heat treatment at 600 °C, the obtained Pt 3 Co/C‐600 catalyst shows excellent mass and specific activities (MA and SA) of 0.69 A mg and 1.01 mA cm , respectively, which are more than one order of magnitude higher than that of Pt/C‐600. In particular, after accelerated durability testing with 20k cycles, the durability of the Pt 3 Co/C‐600 catalyst (98.3 % retention of MA) is much higher than that of Pt 3 Co/C‐600 without pre‐lithiation (42.5 % retention of MA). The alloying of Pt and Co and the use of “pre‐lithiation” to enable strong interactions between the carbon carriers and the Pt‐Co nanoparticles contributed to the increased activity and excellent stability. This work provides a new perspective for the development of high‐performance and low‐cost Pt alloy electrocatalysts.

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