Electrochemical Characterization of Non-Precious Metal Catalysts Based on Copper-Triazole Complexes for Oxygen Reduction Reaction in PEM Fuel Cells

Pt is the best-known catalyst for oxygen reduction reaction in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) due to its high catalytic activity and stability. However, as a precious metal Pt is expensive and scarce. Extensive research has been devoted to find a nonprecious metal catalyst (NPMC) to replace Pt. Most of the studied materials show catalytic activity after pyrolysis at high temperature (800 to 1000 C).[1] Pyrolysis destroys the structure of the starting precursors, making the structure of the catalytic center and reaction mechanisms uncertain. Here we focus on non-pyrolyzed NPMCs. This enables us to prepare samples for which we can directly compare the effects of different structures on performance, although we sacrifice the considerable gains obtained by pyrolysis.