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The role of Sn on the catalytic activity for CO and formic acid oxidation is studied by comparing the activities of differently treated PtSn/C and Pt/C catalysts. The catalysts are prepared by a microwave-assisted polyol synthesis method. As revealed by scanning tunneling and transmission electron microscopic (STM and TEM) characterization, the outcomes of the synthesis procedure for both Pt and PtSn are small particles, ∼1.5 nm in diameter. Upon deposition on the carbon support, the particle size increases to ∼2.5 nm due to sintering. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that PtSn/C has a low alloying degree and is mainly composed of Pt and Pt 3 Sn phases. The remaining Sn is present in the form of very small tin oxide particles. Different surfaces are obtained by double-layer, oxide, and CO annealing of the Pt/C and PtSn/C catalysts and by modifying the CO-annealed surfaces with irreversibly adsorbed tin, Sn irr . The presence of Sn in any form (oxide, alloyed, or Sn irr ) on the surface shifts the onset potential for the CO oxidation negatively by more than 0.4 V in comparison to equivalently treated Pt/C catalysts. For the CO-annealed PtSn/C catalyst, a so-called skeleton structure, Sn is present only in the subsurface layers. The subsurface Sn has a mild effect on the CO activity, and hence the onset potential is only marginally shifted to cathodic potentials by ∼50 mV compared to that on Pt/C. The formic acid oxidation is enhanced at any of the PtSn/C surfaces with Sn in the surface layer. The activity enhancement is explained by a reduced CO poisoning of the surface Pt sites. As a consequence, the current is not entering plateau as on the Pt/C catalysts. Furthermore, the skeleton PtSn/C is ∼2 times more active than similarly treated Pt/C. The results have been substantiated and explained by comprehensive density functional theory (DFT) simulations. The DFT results indicate that the increased oxidation rates are not only due to surface Sn but also due to a weakened CO binding in the vicinity of the surface SnOH x moieties and SnO 2 particles.

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We report on new insights into the relationships between structure and activity of glassy carbon (GC), as a model material for electrocatalyst support, during its anodization in acid solution. Our investigation strongly confirms the role of CFGs in promotion of Pt activity by the "spill-over" effect related to CO(ads) for methanol electrooxidation (MEO) on a carbon-supported Pt catalyst. Combined analysis of voltammetric and impedance behaviour as well as changes in GC surface morphology induced by intensification of anodizing conditions reveal an intrinsic influence of the carbon functionalization and the structure of a graphene oxide (GO) layer on the electrical and electrocatalytic properties of activated GC. Although GO continuously grows during anodization, it structurally changes from being a graphite inter-layer within graphite ribbons toward a continuous GO surface layer that deteriorates the native structure of GC. As a consequence of the increased distance between GO-spaced graphite layers, the GC conductivity decreases until the case of profound GO exfoliation under drastic anodizing conditions. This exposes the native, yet abundantly functionalized, GC texture. While GC capacitance continuously increases with intensification of anodizing conditions, the surface nano-roughness and GO resistance reach the highest values at modest anodizing conditions, and then decrease upon drastic anodization due to the onset of GO exfoliation. We found for the first time that the activity of a GC-supported Pt catalyst in MEO, as one of the promising half-reactions in polymer electrolyte fuel cells, strictly follows the changes in GC nano-roughness and GO-induced GC resistance. The highest GC/Pt MEO activity is reached when optimal distance between graphite layers and optimal degree of GC functionalization bring the highest amount of CFGs into intimate contact with the Pt surface. This confirms the promoting role of CFGs in MEO catalysis.