Self‐Standing Nanofiber Electrodes with Pt–Co Derived from Electrospun Zeolitic Imidazolate Framework for High Temperature PEM Fuel Cells

Expedited conversion of O2 to H2O with minimal amounts of Pt is essential for wide applicability of PEM fuel cells (PEMFCs). Therefore, it is imperative to develop a process for catalyst management to circumvent unnecessary catalyst loss while improving the Pt utilization, catalytic activity, and durability. Here, the fabrication of a self‐standing nanofiber electrode is demonstrated by employing electrospinning. This film‐type catalyst simultaneously contains Pt–Co alloy nanoparticles and Co embedded in an N‐doped graphitized carbon (Co–Nx) support derived from the electrospun zeolitic imidazolate frameworks. Notably, the flexible electrode is directly transferrable for the membrane‐electrode assembly of high temperature PEMFC. In addition, the electrodes exhibit excellent performance, maybe owing to the synergistic interaction between the Pt–Co and Co–Nx as revealed by the computational modeling study. This method simplifies the fabrication and operation of cell device with negligible Pt loss, compared to ink‐based conventional catalyst coating methods. A flexible electrocatalyst layer for high temperature fuel cells is demonstrated by utilizing electrospinning, which simultaneously contains Pt3Co nanoparticles and atomically dispersed Co sites in N‐doped graphene‐based nanofibers derived from zeolitic imidazolate frameworks. The highly active and durable self‐standing catalyst layer is directly transferrable for membrane‐electrode assembly fabrication and thus greatly reduces the Pt waste.