Facile Aqueous Phase Synthesis of Carbon Supported B-doped Pt3Ni Nanocatalyst for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction

•Facile aqueous phase approach developed to synthesize Pt3Ni-B/C toward ORR.•DMAB used for the reductant and the B-doping source.•Highest activity and durability achieved on Pt3Ni-B/C.•Structural and electronic effects countable for improved performance.

Boron-doped platinum-nickel nanoalloy supported on carbon black (Pt3Ni-B/C) is facilely synthesized through an aqueous phase process under mild conditions with dimethylamine borane as the reducing agent. The Pt3Ni-B/C catalyst exhibits an activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in acid media at 0.90 V vs. RHE with a mass activity 3 and 1.7 times, and a specific activity 6 and 1.4 times as high as those for a commercial Pt/C and a Pt3Ni/C synthesized using NaBH4 reductant, respectively. After 10,000 cycles of accelerated durability test the Pt3Ni-B/C demonstrates a significantly improved ORR durability in comparison to its counterparts with only 10 mV decay for its half-wave potential. The higher performance of the Pt3Ni-B/C with respect to that of the Pt3Ni/C can be ascribed to well-dispersed and relatively small nanoalloy particles, as well as slightly intensified adsorption strength toward O-containing species and structural resistance to potential cycling with boron doping.