Lewis Acid Sites Assisted PtCu/CeO2‐C Enabling High‐Performance for Oxygen Reduction

Abstract Improvement in the durable and active low‐Pt nanocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is the essential target for clean energy. Herein, an efficient CeO 2 supported PtCu alloy catalyst (PtCu/CeO 2 ‐C) for ORR in acid media is developed. The CeO 2 support can effectively anchor the PtCu particles and inhibit their migration during the long‐life cycling, which is beneficial to the catalytic performance. According to the electrochemical experiments, the specific and mass activities of PtCu/CeO 2 ‐C are 1.09 mA cm −2 and 0.49 A mg Pt −1 at 0.9 V, which are 9.9 and 6.1 times as large as that of Pt/C, demonstrating its outstanding ORR activities in acid media. Moreover, the theoretical studies confirm that oxygen vacancies (V O ) as Lewis acid sites can facilitate the adsorption and dissociation of O 2 , regulate the electronic structure of Pt, and thus endow PtCu/CeO 2 ‐C with an efficient 4‐electron ORR pathway. The results suggest that the rational design of supported Pt‐based catalysts is of great significance for efficient ORR reaction.