Carbon-supported Au-Pt Fe nanoparticles were synthesized via microwave heating polyol process, followed by annealing for the formation of the ordered structure. The structure characterizations indicate that Au is alloyed with intermetallic Pt-Fe nanoparticles and therefore the surface electronic properties are tuned. The electrochemical tests show that the microwave heating polyol process is more effective than oil bath heating polyol process for synthesizing the highly active catalysts. The introduction of trace Au (0.2 wt % Au) significantly improves the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity of Pt Fe catalysts. Au-PtFe/C-H (0.66 A/mg) and Au-PtFe/C-H (0.63 A/mg) prepared in a batch of 10.0 g show significantly improved catalytic activities than their counterparts (PtFe/C-H and PtFe/C-H) as well as commercial Johnson Matthey Pt/C (0.17 A/mg). In addition, the as-prepared Au-PtFe/C-H and Au-PtFe/C-H display highly enhanced stability toward the ORR compared to the commercial Pt/C. The superior catalytic performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of chemically ordered intermetallic structure and Au. This work provides a scalable synthesis of the multimetallic chemically ordered Au-Pt Fe catalysts with high ORR catalytic performance in acidic condition.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.