Electrochemically synthesized Cu/Pt core-shell catalysts on a porous carbon electrode for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells

A novel two-step method has been developed to efficiently prepare Cu/Pt core-shell structured catalysts for the first time. The Cu is first electrodeposited on the surface of the porous carbon electrode (PCE) and the deposited Cu is then partially replaced by Pt spontaneously. The addition of the thiourea (TU) along with the pH adjustment can tremendously reduce the self-dissolution of Cu due to dissolved oxygen. The results show that Cu/Pt core-shell structured catalysts display very good activities even at very low Pt loadings. The peak power density of a single cell using Cu/Pt core-shell structured catalysts is over 0.9 W cm−2 at Pt loadings as low as 0.24 mg cm−2 on each cathode and anode. This study shows that it is possible to apply this method for fabrication various core-shell structured functional materials.