Highly Durable Passive Direct Methanol Fuel Cell with Three‐Dimensional Ordered Porous NiCo2O4 as Cathode Catalyst

The performance of durability in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) is of great significance. In this study, NiCo2O4 with three‐dimensional ordered hierarchical pore was applied as oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst to enhance the long‐term stability in passive DMFC. The peak power densities of NiCo2O4‐based DMFC were 14.78 and 26 mW cm−2 at 15 and 40 °C, respectively. In the durability test, NiCo2O4‐based DMFC could operate continually for 1406 hours, which is approximately 6 times higher than the highest values reported in literature. And the outstanding durability could be mainly ascribed to the interconnected and ordered macropores channel in NiCo2O4, which could act as a structural buffer to mitigate the structural changes in porous nano‐catalysts, and also significantly facilitate the mass transport and the rapid elimination of cathodic product to solve the problem of “water flooding” at the cathode. Flood control: A highly durable DMFC was assembled with three‐dimensional ordered porous NiCo2O4 as cathode catalyst, in which the ordered and interconnected macropores could act as structural buffer to mitigate the structural changes in the porous nanocatalysts and effectively facilitate mass transport at the cathode for long‐term operational process.