Atomic-scale 3D structural dynamics and functional degradation of Pt alloy nanocatalysts during the oxygen reduction reaction

Chaehwa Jeong, Juhyeok Lee, Hyesung Jo, KwangHo Lee, SangJae Lee, Colin Ophus, Peter Ercius, EunAe Cho () and Yongsoo Yang ()
Additional contact information
Chaehwa Jeong: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Juhyeok Lee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Hyesung Jo: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
KwangHo Lee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
SangJae Lee: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Colin Ophus: Stanford University
Peter Ercius: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
EunAe Cho: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Yongsoo Yang: Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Pt-based electrocatalysts are the primary choice for fuel cells due to their superior oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity. To enhance ORR performance and durability, extensive studies have investigated transition metal alloying, doping, and shape control to optimize the three key governing factors for ORR: geometry, local chemistry, and strain of their surface and subsurface. However, systematic optimization remains incomplete, as it requires an atomic-scale understanding of these factors and their dynamics over potential cycling, as well as their relationship to ORR activity. Here, we implement neural network-assisted atomic electron tomography to measure the 3D atomic structural dynamics and their effects on the functional degradation of PtNi alloy catalysts. Our results reveal that PtNi catalysts undergo shape changes, surface alloying, and strain relaxation during cycling, which can be effectively mitigated by Ga doping. By combining geometry, local chemistry, and strain analysis, we calculated the changes in ORR activity over thousands of cycles and observed that Ga doping leads to higher initial activity and greater stability. These findings offer a pathway to understanding 3D atomic structural dynamics and their relation to ORR activity during cycling, paving the way for the systematic design of durable, high-efficiency nanocatalysts.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63448-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-63448-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63448-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().