Harnessing bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysis: Exsolved Pt nanoparticles from La_0.6Sr_0.4Fe_0.95Pt_0.05O_3-δ

The use of perovskite oxides as bifunctional catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis is a promising strategy for developing high-performance unified regenerative fuel cells (URFCs), thanks to their highly tunable structure. This work explores the exsolution of well-dispersed nanoparticles containing reduced Pt species from La_0.6Sr_0.4Fe_0.95Pt_0.05O_3-δ (LSFPt) as an effective approach to design bifunctional catalysts for oxygen electrocatalysis. A 10 h reduction treatment at 500 °C in 5% H2/Ar promotes the exsolution of ~1.2 nm Pt-containing nanoparticles on the surface, increasing oxygen deficiency without compromising the perovskite structure. The resulting catalyst exhibits significantly improved activity for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media, with over 2.5-fold performance improvement compared to the as-prepared LSFPt. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), combined with distribution of relaxation times (DRT) deconvolution analysis, revealed a notable decrease in medium-frequency resistance, indicating enhanced charge transfer at the electrode surface for OER and ORR. Post-mortem O K-edge spectra obtained by soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy in total electron yield mode further suggest an increased surface restructuring in the reduced LSFPt, attributed to the synergistic presence of surface defects and exsolved nanoparticles containing reduced Pt species. This one-step reduction protocol offers a promising strategy for designing efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts.