Deciphering the Property-Activity-Stability Trends of Platinum-Rare Earth Nanoalloys During Fuel Cell Operation from Operando X-ray Diffract

The use of high energy X-ray diffraction is proposed to investigate operando the property-activity-stability trends and the degradation mechanism and of carbon-supported platinum-rare earth (Pt-RE/C) nanoalloys in real fuel cell operating conditions. These materials receive constant growing attention due to their predicted remarkable stability compared to other Pt alloys. However, such Pt-RE alloys are extremely difficult to produce as practical catalyst layers. The proposal is based on the study of representative Pt-RE nanocatalysts series successfully synthetized at ICGM at different key steps of their ‘life’, i.e. from their early surface conditioning (break-in) to their long-term stability over accelerated stress tests. This experiment will thus answer a still open and important question in the field.