1 Introduction

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are a promising technology, operating at low temperatures with high power efficiency and producing environmentally friendly, effective energy and sustainable devices in the energy industry [1,2,3]. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is the heart of a PEM fuel cell since the oxidation and reduction of half-cell processes and proton conduction occurs [4,5,6,7]. The preparation of anode and cathode electrodes for MEAs involves a variety of techniques, including impregnation reduction, spread and spraying, catalytic powder deposition, catalytic decaling, painting, electro-deposition, and sputter deposition [8]. Among the existing methods, the impregnation reduction technique is prevalent. The impregnation technique is the most widely used for the deposition of platinum nanoparticles on the surface of carbonaceous supporting materials. impregnation method has been widely employed to prepare platinum-based catalyst materials as a simple and cost-effective process [9]. The usage of platinum (Pt) metal and the slow kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the cathode side contribute to the prohibitively high cost of PEMFCs, which is the primary factor limiting their widespread use [10,11,12,13,14]. Thus, various Pt–M alloys, such as Pt–Cr, Pt–Co, Pt–Fe, Pt–Ni, Pt–Mo, Pt–Cu, and Pt–Pd [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27], have been extensively studied to develop the ORR kinetics and stability in the electrodes. The addition of an appropriate second metal to Pt to produce a Pt alloy (PtM) catalyst affects the geometric and electronic properties of the Pt metal, which affects the ORR activity and stability of the Pt/C catalyst [28,29,30]. ZrO2 is desirable for catalyst support because it is an amphoteric oxide with acid and basic sites. Because it is an amphoteric oxide, which means it has both basic and acidic sites, it may be easier for carbon oxides and steam to stick to its surface, which lowers its coke resistance [31,32,33,34]. One way to improve the cathodic reaction's performance is to use a powerful oxidizing agent. It is considered that ozone (O3) is one of the most powerful oxidizing agents that are currently accessible [35,36,37,38,39]. Researchers have also treated fuel cell parts like the carbon support and electrolyte membrane with ozone [35, 40]. This study compares the ORR activity and stability of the zirconium and nickel metal-doped Pt alloy catalyst, which has never been done before as far as we know. This study focuses on using zirconium metal, which reduces the amount of Pt, is very resistant to temperature and corrosion, and shows superconducting properties at low temperatures. In this study, the ORR activity and stability of the synthesized catalysts were compared for the first time by doping both Ni and Zr metals separately into the Pt/C catalyst using oxygen and ozone as the cathode gases to reduce the Pt loading and increase the catalytic activity of the catalyst.

2 Experimental

2.1 Chemicals

Sodium borohydride (NaBH4, 99%), ethanol (96%), isopropyl alcohol (99.9%), formic acid (85%), and Nafion solution (5% dispersion) were purchased from Sigma Aldrich; Platinum(II) chloride (PtCl2), Nickel(II) nitrate hexahydrate, and zirconium(IV) chloride (ZrCl4) are purchased from Alfa Aesar. Sulfuric acid is purchased from Merck.

2.2 Synthesis of nanocatalyst

Pt:Ni:Zr (1:2:1 molar ratio) and PtZrx (x = 1, 2, and 3) catalysts based on carbon were synthesized using the chemical reduction technique. The reducing agents employed in this study were sodium borohydride and formic acid, while the metal precursors utilized were platinum chloride, zirconium chloride, and nickel nitrate. A metal loading to support 20 wt% was made to generate all catalysts. First, an appropriate quantity of PtCl2 and a metal precursor like ZrCl4 were dissolved in water to create the PtZr/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr3/C catalysts. The details of the experimental study are included in our previous work in which we synthesized Pt/C [41].

2.3 PEM fuel cell testing

The active area of the MEAs used in these PEMFC single-cell tests was 1.0 × 1.0 cm2. The anode layer used the Pt/C catalyst, whereas the cathode layer used the Pt/C, PtZrx/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts, respectively. The details of the experimental work are included in our previous work [41]. Ozone is a gas, but it is highly unstable, thus in order to deliver and measure the quantity of ozone that is present at the fuel cell input, an ozone generator and a detector were used [42,43,44]. In the H2/O3 PEMFCs experiment, ozone gas that was created by an ozone generator is shown in Fig. 1 as a schematic representation of how it was used [35].

Fig. 1
figure 1

The experimental the design for H2/O3 PEMFCs

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2.4 Characterization of the catalysts

To investigate the morphological and structural characteristics of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphological and structural properties of catalysts were determined by XRD (Rigaku X-ray diffractometer with Cu Kα radiation (λ = 154.059 pm), Japan) and SEM (ZEISS-EVO 50 instrument, Carl Zeiss NTS GmbH, Germany) measurements, respectively. The basic element components of catalysts were determined by EDX (Bruker, Quantax ED-XS, Germany) analysis.

2.5 Electrochemical measurements of catalysts

Various electrochemical measurement techniques, such as electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry, and chronopotentiometry are employed for the purpose of conducting electrochemical analyses. The 0.5 M H2SO4 solution is used for the measurements. Electrochemical testing is done using the CHI 660E apparatus. The working electrode was a glassy carbon electrode with a diameter of 3 mm, the reference electrode was Ag/AgCl (3 M, KCl), and the counter electrode was a platinum (Pt) plate. The cyclic voltammetry (CV) measurements were conducted using a scan rate of 50 mVs−1. The chronoamperometry measurements were conducted at a potential of 0.4 V. The chronopotentiometry measurements in this experiment are conducted using a current of 2 µA. Impedance measurements for alternating current are acquired by establishing a voltage level of 0.5 V and subjecting the signal to a consistent amplitude of 7 mV across a frequency span ranging from 105 to 102 Hz. Before CV measurements, the solution was saturated with N2 gas. The solution was saturated with O2 gas before chronoamperometry, chronopotentiometry and impedance measurements. For 30 min, 5 mg of catalyst was sonicated in a solution containing 40 µl of nafion (5 wt%) and 960 µl of ethanol.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Characterization

XRD diffraction patterns of synthesized Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts are indicated in Fig. 2. The diffraction peak observed at an angle of 2θ = 24.71º corresponds to the crystallographic plane denoted as (002) in the hexagonal lattice of Vulcan XC-72 carbon.

Fig. 2
figure 2

XRD analyzes of electrocatalysts

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The diffraction peaks of (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes are seen, which correspond to the face-centered cubic (FCC) crystalline structure of Pt at 2θ (0) = 39.74, 46.33, 67.25, and 81.60, in that order [45]. The PtZr2/C catalyst, on the other hand, exhibits planes at 2θ = 39.91, 46.07, 67.41, and 81.56 for planes (111), (200), (220), and (311), respectively. It also exhibits 2θ = 39.625, 45.98, 67.31, and 81.64 planes for (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes in the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst, respectively [45]. The PtZr2/C catalyst, on the other hand, exhibits planes at 2θ = 39.91, 46.07, 67.41, and 81.56 for planes (111), (200), (220), and (311), respectively. It also exhibits 2θ = 39.625, 45.98, 67.31, and 81.64 planes for (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes in the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst, respectively [46, 47].

The PtZr2/C catalyst had a slight positive shift at the 2θ position at the characteristic peaks. The PtZr2Ni/C catalyst, on the other hand, had a slight negative shift and a slight decrease in the intensity of the peaks compared to the Pt/C catalyst. This implies a contraction of the lattice and the formation of an alloy [48, 49]. In the XRD results, there are no peaks corresponding to Ni metal and its oxides. Therefore, the structure of the alloy catalyst PtNi is also fcc [50]. The absence of obvious peaks of Zr or its crystalline oxide could be due to either the Zr atoms combining with the Pt atoms to form an alloy or their presence as amorphous Zr atoms [51]. The Scherer equation [47] was employed to determine the average size of crystallites in Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts, utilizing the crystal plane of Pt (111) [52].

$${\text{d}} = \, 0,{9}\lambda /\left( {\beta {\text{cos}}\theta } \right)$$
(1)

The average size of a catalyst’s crystallite is calculated to be 4.95 nm for Pt/C, 4.33 nm for PtZr2/C, and 3.35 nm for PtZr2Ni/C. The presence of Zr-doped particles reduced the crystallite size of the Pt (111) peak. Figure 3 reveals the changes in the Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C surface morphologies. As can be observed, the Pt alloy is distributed randomly throughout both surface regions.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Presents scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of three catalysts: a Pt/C, b PtZr2/C, and c PtZr2Ni/C

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Figure 3a shows the clumping of Pt/C on the surface. In addition, the inclusion of Zr metal appears to result in the formation of minute voids and distributed agglomerates on the catalyst's surface (Fig. 3b). Surface fractures were less noticeable, and agglomerations resembling cotton formed when Ni metal was added (Fig. 3c). The presence of cracks could potentially lead to an increased effective surface area. Catalysts typically exhibit a microstructure characterized by carbon particles with a voluminous and fluffy composition, similar to cotton, embedded with Pt alloy catalyst nanoparticles. Elemental mapping and EDX analysis confirm the equidistant distribution of Pt, Zr, and Ni on the catalyst surface (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
figure 4

EDX mapping and analysis for PtZr2Ni/C catalyst

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Typical Zr signals at 2.2 keV, Ni signals at 0.9 keV, and Pt signals at 2.4 keV were also seen in the EDX spectra of platinum, nickel, and zirconium metals in Fig. 4. EDX analyses also showed that these bimetallic samples were free from impurities such as chlorine. The EDX spectra in Fig. 4 show that Pt is present in Pt/C and coexists with Ni in PtZr2Ni/C [53]. EDX spectra were used to make estimates of the weight percent of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts; the results are described in Table 1

Table 1 Atomic percent and weight percent of catalysts
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The Zr metal is not visible in the EDX spectrum. This may be a result of the overlap between the energy peaks of Pt and Zr. The presence of Zr metal on the surface likely contributed to an increase in the catalyst activity by making the surface more porous.

3.2 Electrochemical properties of nanocatalysts

3.2.1 Cyclic voltammetry measurement

Figure 5 displays the cyclic voltammograms of nanocatalysts composed of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C. Peaks in the −0.25 V to 0.1 V CV potential range were attributed to hydrogen adsorption and desorption on the catalyst surface. The electrochemically active surface area of Pt is correlated with the magnitude of these peaks.

Fig. 5
figure 5

Cyclic voltammograms of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts at a scan rate of 50 mVs−1

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The size of the electrochemically active surface area is also critical for increasing oxygen reduction activity [54]. Determining the electrochemically active surface area involves the division of the charge quantities obtained for these peaks by the conversion factor specific to platinum, which is 210 µCcm−2 [55,56,57]. The catalysts Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C have electrochemically active surface areas of 78, 195, and 214 m2gPt−1, respectively. ECSA increased approximately two and a half times due to the addition of Zr to the Pt/C structure. It was observed that the ECSA value of the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst formed by adding nickel to the PtZr2/C structure increased slightly. These values show that PtZr/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts have very high electrochemically active surface areas, but they also indicate that the PtZr/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts have a higher active surface area than the Pt/C catalyst. The large electrochemically active surface area values of PtZr/C and PtZr2Ni/C were thought to be related to the synergistic effect and the particle sizes. Generally, there is a negative relationship between the size of particles and the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) value. In other words, catalysts with a large particle size have a low ECSA value, while catalysts with a small particle size have a high ECSA value.

3.2.2 Chronoamperometry and chronopotentiometry measurements

The investigation of stability of catalysts and the electrochemical activity in fuel cells may benefit greatly from chronoamperometric experiments [58, 59]. Chronoamperometry tests on Pt/C PtZr2/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts are shown in Fig. 6. It revealed that the change in current values remained remarkably stable after a sharp initial decline. The PtZr2Ni/C catalyst exhibited superior activity compared to the other catalysts. An increase in electroactivity is indicated by a rise in current density. The current exhibited a rapid decline, despite the fact that the continuous activity reached a stable state at a relatively high current density. Chronopotentiometry is considered a valuable qualitative method for screening catalysts due to its ability to simulate the operation of a fuel cell under a constant current [60]. The potential drop for Pt/C is more significant than that for PtZr/C and PtZr2Ni/C, as Fig. 6 illustrates based on the starting potential values. Based on these findings, PtZr2Ni/C is a more potent catalyst than Pt/C and PtZr2/C.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Chronoamperometry (0.4 V) and chronopotentiometry (2 µA) curves of the catalysts in 0.5 M H2SO4 solution saturated with O2

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3.2.3 Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements

For the catalysts Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C, the electrochemical impedance measurements are carried out in O2 saturated 0.5 M H2SO4 solution. Figure 7 shows the Nyquist curves of catalysts. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies of the Nyquist curves in the high-frequency range show a partial semicircle. The charge transfer resistance is represented by the diameter of this incomplete semicircle. The charge transfer resistance increases with increasing diameter. Because the charge transfer resistance and the pace of the electrochemical reaction are inversely correlated, a low charge transfer resistance indicates strong electrochemical activity [61]. As can be seen in Fig. 7, the charge transfer resistance of the electrodes with the PtZr2/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts is lower than that of the electrodes with the Pt/C catalyst because the diameter of the partial semicircles in the high-frequency zone is smaller for the PtZr2/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts. The value where the Nyquist curves intersect with the X-axis in the high-frequency region shows the equivalent series resistance. Equivalent series resistance includes some resistances such as electrolyte resistance and active material resistance. A lower equivalent series resistance means lower electrical resistance. Equivalent series resistance for the PtZr2Ni/C is lower than the equivalent series resistance of the PtZr2/C and Pt/C. These point to greater electrochemical activity in the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst compared to the Pt/C and PtZr2/C catalysts, supporting earlier findings. Chronoamperometry and cyclic voltammetry findings support this theory as well. The observed phenomenon can potentially be elucidated by considering the hypothesis that the electrochemical kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) are enhanced as a result of the increasing current density within the region of low polarization [62].

Fig. 7
figure 7

Nyquist curves of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in an O2 saturated 0.5 M H2SO4 solution

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3.3 Fuel cells performance

The unit cell test served as the final evaluation criterion for the optimal synthesized electrocatalyst. We used electrocatalysts (PtZr/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr3/C) designed for ORR at the cathode for PEM fuel cell testing for the MEA. The Pt/C catalyst served as the anode electrocatalyst for all MEAs. Before sandwich pressing the MEA, the anode and cathode catalysts were evenly brushed onto the GDLs on each side of the Nafion membrane. To maintain the moisture content of the Nafion membrane, the H2/O2 gases were subjected to the process of humidification. The electrochemical reactions occur at the interface between the electrolyte and the membrane, specifically on the surface of the catalyst. Hydrogen, fed from one side of the membrane, breaks down into its main components, which are protons and electrons. One electron and one proton make up every hydrogen atom in the universe [63, 64]. Although protons pass through the membrane, electrons pass via external circuits, electrically conducting electrodes, and current collectors, where they perform useful functions before returning to the other side. The protons that have traversed the membrane and the oxygen molecules provided on the same side of the membrane converge at the catalyst sites located at the interface between the membrane and the opposite electrode [65]. The electrochemical reaction produces water, which the cell then expels along with an increased oxygen flow. The concurrent processes result in a continuous flow of electrons along an external circuit, commonly referred to as a direct electrical current. The activation of polarization occurred when the single cell was situated between the open circuit voltage and the higher current density [66, 67].

Figure 8 shows the polarization curves of the cathode electrocatalysts at temperatures ranging from 40 to 70 °C. The efficiency of the single-cell fuel cell diminishes with increasing cell temperature when PtZr/C (1:1), PtZr/C (1:2), and Pt/C catalysts are used as cathode catalysts. The fuel cell efficiency increases as the temperature of the cell increases when PtZr/C (1:3) and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts are used as the cathode electrocatalysts. The catalysts' active surface area increases as the temperature rises because more activated molecules are present on the surface. Although the Pt:Zr ratios in the PtZr/C electrocatalyst are different, this experiment shows that they significantly affect the performance of the cell not only in the activation region at high voltage but also during the ohmic field at medium and low voltage. Figure 8e displays the polarization curve of the synthesized PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst upon the addition of Ni to the PtZr2/C catalyst. The PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst exhibited superior activity compared to the PtZr2/C electrocatalyst, even at low temperatures. The activity of the PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst's surface area increases with higher cell temperatures. Additionally, when the number of surface cracks decreases, the surface becomes more active. SEM images also confirm this. With increasing cell operating temperatures, the PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst demonstrated better activity than the other catalysts (Fig. 8f). Electrochemical measurements confirmed that the PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst had better performance and surface area than other electrocatalysts.

Fig. 8
figure 8

Polarization curves for a Pt/C (0.15 mg(Pt)cm−2), b PtZr/C (0.13 mg(Pt)cm−2), c PtZr2/C(0.10 mg(Pt)cm−2), d PtZr3/C(0.075 mg(Pt)cm−2), e PtZr2Ni/C(0.035 mg(Pt)cm−2), and f 70 °C cell temperature

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In the subsequent phase of the study, an ozone-generating generator fed ozone gas to the cathode part in place of oxygen gas. As shown in Fig. 9, adding O3 gas to the cathode side decreased resistance as the cell temperature in the ohmic loss region decreased compared to using O2 gas [36, 68].

Fig. 9
figure 9

Polarization curves of a Pt/C, b PtZr/C, c PtZr2/C, d PtZr3/C, e PtZr2Ni/C, and f comparison of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts at 70 °C cell temperature

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A pair of coaxial cylindrical electrodes, positioned facing each other, form the generator. A high voltage potential across the electrodes creates a potent electric field that dynamically interacts with the oxygen flow. The aforementioned phenomenon leads to the generation of oxygen radicals. The hydrogen/ozone PEMFCs recorded an observed open circuit voltage (OCV) of 1.65 V, which is significantly higher than the OCV of the hydrogen/oxygen PEMFCs [35, 69, 70]. At a point that is referred to as “the attained current density” [36, 41, 71], there is a sudden voltage drop, and the cell starts to act like that of an H2/O2 PEMFC when the current density is 10 mAcm−2. The increase in power density causes an elevation in the H2/O3 PEMFC polarization curve, surpassing the H2/O2 PEMFC polarization curve. As the fuel cell temperature rose, the performance of hydrogen–oxygen (H2/O2) and hydrogen-ozone (H2/O3) PEMFCs went down as the fuel cell temperature went up. This phenomenon was particularly evident when we used PtZr/C and PtZr2/C catalysts as the cathode electrocatalysts. However, it was observed that the performance of the PtZr3/C and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts demonstrated an improvement with the elevation of temperature. The polarization curves of Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalysts used as cathode catalysts revealed that the activity of PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst outperformed other electrocatalysts at the 70 °C cell temperature of H2/O3 PEM fuel cells (Fig. 9f). Table 2 displays the voltage–current density and power density of the electrocatalysts used in PEMFCs operating at various temperatures.

Table 2 Performance of catalysts in H2/O2 and H2/O3
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At 70 °C cell operating temperature, the performance of PEMFCs using H2/O2 was 165.87 mWcm−2 with the maximum power density obtained by the PtZr2Ni/C cathode catalyst, while maximum power densities of 64.68 mWcm−2, 83.46 mWcm−2, 83.44 mWcm−2, and 107.52 mWcm−2 were achieved for the Pt/C, PtZr/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr3/C cathode catalysts, respectively. At the same temperature, using H2/O3, the maximum power density obtained by PtZr2Ni/C cathode catalyst was 242.08 mWcm−2, while the maximum power densities of Pt/C, PtZr/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr3/C cathode catalysts were 102.40 mWcm−2, 57.72 mWcm−2, 148.5 mWcm−2 and 116.64 mWcm−2, respectively. For the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst in the use of H2/O2 and H2/O3, the peak power has been reported to be 165.87 mWcm−2 and 242.08 mWcm−2, which is much higher than the power recorded in cells with Pt and various Pt:Zr atomic compositions, which is noteworthy, respectively.

Single-cell polarization data show that Pt-painted spinal has improved fuel cell performance by encouraging the ORR process. The ORR catalytic activity of the synthesized electrocatalysts was found to be PtZr2Ni/C > PtZr2/C > PtZr/C > Pt/C > PtZr3/C when using H2/O2, but it was PtZr2Ni/C > PtZr2/C > Pt/C > PtZr3/C > PtZr/C when using H2/O3.

One could be said that the utilization of ozone instead of oxygen exhibits an enhancement in the efficacy of PtZr3/C catalysts, which are characterized by suboptimal reactivity. Therefore, it can be stated that the following factors contribute to the performance decline with rising temperatures: (1) The act of monitoring the voltage of the cell and ascertaining resistances associated with ohmic, charge transfer, and diffusion phenomena during ozone exposure provides evidence that the injection of ozone substantially accelerates the degradation rate of the MEA [42, 43]. Following the introduction of ozone into the system, it was observed that the measurements of the catalyst's surface area change would result in a decrease in the catalyst's activity [42, 44]. (2) The presence of ozone has been observed to hinder the rates at which protons and water are transferred in the process of oxygen reduction. However, it has also been found to accelerate the dissolution of platinum (Pt) particles in the catalyst [42, 45, 72, 73] and Additionally, the inclusion of cationic species such as Zr metal in the membrane leads to an increase in resistance [31, 54, 56, 57]. As a result, when the Pt:Ni atomic ratio is low (high Zr content is present), a low degree of catalyst aggregation with a high level of dispersion is seen. A tiny number of pores are formed on the electrode layer as a consequence of this.

Consequently, less fuel is transferred from the electrode layer to the cathode, resulting in a higher OCV. The values of the potential and the current density may be utilized to show the oxygen reduction reaction activity of the dual electrocatalyst while taking into account the impact of the Pt:Zr atomic ratios on the performance of the cell in the activation-controlled area [74]. The PtZr/C electrocatalyst's ORR activity increases as Zr concentration in the catalyst increases. This suggests that the Zr content of the PtZr/C electrocatalyst greatly affected ORR activity. Likewise, it was observed that doping Ni metal to the PtZr2/C catalyst further increased the activity of the electrocatalyst.

4 Conclusion

In this study, Pt/C, PtZrx/C (x = 1, 2, 3), and PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalysts were produced for ORR and PEM fuel cells. The studies, conducted at four different temperatures, determined that the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst was the most active electrocatalyst as a cathode. The face-centered cubic structure of Pt was found to be compatible with the diffraction peaks seen in Pt/C, PtZr2/C, and PtZr2Ni/C catalysts. As the electrochemical experiment showed, the PtZr2/C catalyst had a higher peak current density and more electrocatalytic activity than the Pt/C catalyst, but it had a lower starting potential. The presence of Zr resulted in a decrease in particle size while increasing ECSA. Electrochemical measurements and physical analysis determined that the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst was more active than the PtZr2/C catalyst, and high temperature PEM fuel cell applications detected it. Likewise, the presence of Ni metal reduced the particle size and made the catalyst surface more active than Zr metal. In the performance of the PEM fuel cell, the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst showed good activity not only in the activation loss region but also in the ohmic and concentration loss regions, compared to both Pt/C and at different atomic ratios Pt:Zr catalysts. The PtZr2Ni/C cathode electrocatalyst's performance increased as the cell temperature rose. Additionally, both H2/O2 and H2/O3 demonstrated strong performance in both applications, yielding maximum power densities of 165.87 mWcm−2 and 242.8 mWcm−2, respectively. The PtZr2Ni/C electrocatalyst achieved the highest ORR activity and peak power. The ORR catalytic activity of the cathode electrocatalysts was found to be PtZr2Ni > PtZr2/C > PtZr/C > Pt/C > PtZr3/C when using H2/O2, but it was PtZr2Ni > PtZr2/C > Pt/C > PtZr3/C > PtZr/C when using H2/O3. The higher performance of the PdZr2Ni/C catalyst is assumed to be a result of its uniformly dispersed nanoparticles and more crystalline lattice defects. The findings show that the PtZr2Ni/C catalyst had great activity, which had a big effect on the performance of the PEM fuel cell and the activity of the cathode electrocatalyst. Since the PtZr2Ni/C catalysts described in this article have excellent characteristics and are simple to fabricate, it is anticipated that future studies will result in less expensive electrocatalysts for PEM fuel cells that are currently being developed.