Interfacial Dual-Electric-Field-Mediated SnO <sub>2</sub> –Pt Hollow Nanotubes Enhance Hydrogen Oxidation Activity and Phosphoric Acid Tolerance
Phosphoric acid (PA) poisoning severely compromises Pt-based catalysts in high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) through irreversible adsorption on active sites. We address this challenge by engineering SnO<sub>2</sub> hollow nanotubes anchored with ultradispersed Pt nanoclusters (denoted as Pt/SnO<sub>2</sub>, Pt:3.7 wt %), creating interfacial dual-electric fields that synergistically modulate reactant adsorption. Combined experimental and theoretical studies reveal charge redistribution via Pt to SnO<sub>2</sub> electron transfer optimizes hydrogen adsorption (ΔG<sub>H</sub><sup>+</sup> = -0.30 eV) while enabling selective PA anchoring on SnO<sub>2</sub>, reducing phosphate adsorption energy on Pt sites by 4.15 eV versus commercial Pt/C. This strategic design preserves Pt's H-intermediate processing capability, yielding exceptional hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) performance: dynamic current density of 19.81 mA cm<sup>-2</sup>, mass activity of 2.45 A mg<sub>Pt</sub><sup>-1</sup>, and 3.5-fold stability improvement in concentrated H<sub>3</sub>PO<sub>4</sub>. The catalyst maintains 94.6% initial activity after 10,000 cycles, surpassing Pt/C's rapid degradation. Our work establishes electric field-mediated adsorption engineering as a universal strategy for developing acid-tolerant electrocatalysts in advanced energy systems.
Authors
- Weijia Ji
- Tong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8988-234X)
- Lifang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7174-1250)
- Luping Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3639-9407)
- Yijie Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5131-9122)
- Tianheng Du
- Tao Qian
- Xiaopeng Wang
- Chang Liu
- Jie Liu
Institutions
- Nantong University (CN)
- Sichuan University (CN)
- Intelligent Health (United Kingdom) (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Published
- 2025-12-31
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.inorgchem.5c05367
- Primary Topic
- Electrocatalysts for Energy Conversion
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00