Carbon nitride-assisted thermal treatment for sintering-resistant Pt/C catalysts

Original scientific paper

Authors

  • Junyi Li School of Materials Science and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5410-9798
  • Liang Tian Instituto de Tecnología Química, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas-Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Universitat Politècnica de Valencia, Av. De los Naranjos s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3801-653X
  • Ying Wang State Key Laboratory of Green Papermaking and Resource Recycling, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan 250353, China https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6236-5126

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5599/jese.3227

Keywords:

Carbon nitride decomposition, platinum nanoparticles, sintering suppression, oxygen reduction reaction, electrochemical durability

Abstract

High-temperature annealing often induces severe sintering of Pt nanoparticles in Pt/C catalysts, resulting in activity degradation. Here, a carbon nitride–assisted thermal treatment strategy is proposed to enhance the thermal stability of Pt/C. TG-FTIR and XPS analysis reveal that nitrogen-containing species generated during carbon nitride decomposition play a key role in suppressing Pt nanoparticle coalescence at intermediate temperatures. Although the carbon nitride framework decomposes at high temperatures, residual graphitic and pyridinic nitrogen species are retained and interact electronically with Pt, leading to a reduced Pt binding energy. As a result, the carbon nitride–assisted Pt/C maintains a narrow particle size distribution after annealing. Electrochemical measurements demonstrate that the assisted catalyst retains oxygen reduction reaction activity comparable to commercial Pt/C after thermal treatment at 700 °C, while the untreated sample shows pronounced performance loss. Moreover, the assisted catalyst exhibits significantly improved durability after 20 000 cycles. This work offers a simple and effective approach to improving the thermal robustness of Pt-based electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cells.

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Published

09-03-2026

Issue

Vol. 16 (2026)

Section

Electrocatalysis

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Copyright (c) 2026 Junyi Li, Liang Tian, Ying Wang

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Carbon nitride-assisted thermal treatment for sintering-resistant Pt/C catalysts: Original scientific paper. (2026). Journal of Electrochemical Science and Engineering, 16, Article 3227. https://doi.org/10.5599/jese.3227

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