Effect of Support for Non‐Noble NiMo Electrocatalyst in Alkaline Hydrogen Oxidation

Abstract The development of high‐performance platinum group metal (PGM)‐free electrocatalysts for the hydrogen oxidation reaction (HOR) in anion exchange membrane fuel cells (AEMFCs) remains a great challenge. Here, a novel design strategy for improving the catalytic activity of PGM‐free catalysts by adopting N‐doped large‐porous carbon as a support material is reported. This paper shows the effect of support on the activity of non‐noble NiMo in HOR by comparing NiMo alloy on N‐doped mesocellular carbon foam (NiMo/N‐MSUF‐C) with NiMo/MSUF‐C and NiMo on N‐doped CMK‐3 (NiMo/N‐CMK‐3). The strong interaction between NiMo and N species in N‐MSUF‐C alters the electronic structure of NiMo toward optimal binding energies for H and OH. The large pores in N‐MSUF‐C facilitate the diffusion of OH⁻ into the catalyst layer, thereby increasing the limiting current density, which is higher compared with that of NiMo/N‐CMK‐3. The AEMFC with NiMo/N‐MSUF‐C as the anode shows a higher peak power density of 152 mW cm⁻² in H₂/O₂ compared with that of previously reported PGM‐free catalysts. These results can lead to efficient designing of highly effective AEMFCs for practical applications.