Magnetic Field Enhanced Oxygen Reduction Reaction via Oxygen Diffusion Speedup

The mass-transfer of oxygen in liquid phases (including in the bulk electrolyte and near the electrode surface) is a critical step to deliver oxygen to catalyst sites (especially immersed catalyst sites) and use the full capacity of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Despite the extensive efforts of optimizing the complex three-phase reaction interfaces to enhance the gaseous oxygen transfer, strong limitations remain due to oxygen's poor solubility and slow diffusion in electrolytes. Herein, a magnetic method for boosting the directional hydrodynamic pumping of oxygen toward immersed catalyst sites is demonstrated which allows the ORR to reach otherwise inaccessible catalytic regions where high currents normally would have depleted oxygen. For Pt foil electrodes without forced oxygen saturation in KOH electrolytes, the mass-transfer-limited current densities can be improved by 60% under an external magnetic field of 435 mT due to the synergistic effect between bulk- and surface-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows induced by Lorentz forces. The residual magnetic fields are further used at the surface of magnetic materials (such as CoPt alloys and Pt/FeCo heterostructures) to enhance the surface-MHD effect, which helps to retain part of the ORR enhancement permanently without applying external magnetic fields.