Communication—Synergistic Effect on the Activity of ZrO 2 -Fe as PGM-Free ORR Catalysts for PEMFCs

Abstract

Here we report a new strategy to enhance the ORR activity of valve-metal-oxide electrocatalysts by combining an aliovalent cation (Fe) with ZrO2 (particle size <10 nm). This results in a strong increase of the ORR activity, which is clearly higher than that obtained by the individual components. The highest ORR activity for a carbon supported ZrO2 catalyst with 12 wt% ZrO2 is observed upon the addition of 0.36-1.0 wt% Fe (≡ Fe/Zr atomic ratios of 0.02-0.08).