New life of a forgotten method: Electrochemical route toward highly efficient Pt/C catalysts for low-temperature fuel cells

Driven by global environmental concerns, great efforts are currently made to develop novel, cheap and practical means for producing highly efficient electrocatalysts, specifically for the low-temperature fuel-cell applications. Employing an old but yet unexplored method based on electrochemical dispergation of platinum by the alternating current, we show that the freshly prepared Pt/C catalysts exhibit greatly enhanced catalytic activity (up to 350% for oxygen reduction and up to 200% for ethylene glycol oxidation) as compared with that of a commercially available counterpart (E-TEK). A key role in these reactions is attributed to a specific nanoparticle morphology. These findings should provide a revival of an ancient but simple and efficient electrochemical process and motivate further researches in the field.

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► We highlight novel, simple route for manufacturing Pt/C catalyst for fuel-cell applications.
► This method based on dispergation of Pt electrodes under pulsed alternating current.
► Activity of prepared Pt/C catalyst is significantly higher than commercially counterpart.