Electrocatalysis by nanocrystalline tungsten carbides and the effects of codeposited silver

Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides as Electrode Materials for Low Temperature Fuel Cells

“…Furthermore, this anodic current at lower potential indicates that W 2 C is more easily oxidized than WC, and implies that loss of W 2 C can occur in fuel cell application. In addition, W 2 C showed higher corrosion current than WC at the same potential [67]. A thin layer of WO 3 covers WC surface upon exposure to air, as confirmed by XPS [68].…”

“…Hydrogen oxidation activity of pure WC and W 2 C phases was reported by Burstein et al [67,78] Pt and Nafion 117 membrane [85]. Ni-WC/C showed 16 mA/cm 2 at 0.5 V. In Figure 6 …”

Preparation and performance of nanosized tungsten carbides for electrocatalysis

“…The commercial WC is very low in surface area (about 2 m 2 g −1 ) with the particles in micrometer size. The surface areas of the WC particles synthesized by reported methods were mostly less than 10 m 2 g −1 [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. Therefore, it is necessary to develop novel methods to prepare high surface area WC by reducing the particle size used as catalyst supports since the particle size and the dispersion of the support are crucial for the catalytic reactions.…”

In situ spectroelectrochemical measurements during the electro-oxidation of ethanol on WC-supported Pt-black, based on sum-frequency generation spectroscopy

“…Among them, the degradation of the widely used carbon-supported Pt-based catalysts is becoming a key point that calls for the introduction of alternative materials, with improved long-term resistance to catalyst agglomeration and support corrosion, in addition to the more extensively investigated poison-tolerance. Being characterised by good electronic conductivity, resistance to acidic environment, low cost and outstanding mechanical properties -in addition to some degree of electrocatalytic behaviour towards hydrogen oxidation -tungsten carbide (WC) has been recently indicated as a possible candidate to replace the traditional carbon support [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. CO poisoning during the electro-oxidation of hydrogen at WC was studied in [1] and found to be limited and reversible.…”

“…Furthermore, the addition of WC to Pt [2], Pt-Ru [2], Pd [8,10] and AuPd [9] catalysis to improve the tolerance to CO during ethanol oxidation, has been proved. The prospective combination of WC with metals not belonging to the platinum metal group has been pointed out as appealing for economical consideration: improved catalytic behaviour was found for nanocrystalline WC, as such and in combination with Ag [3]. Furthermore, the combination of WC with CNT has proved effective in enhancing the activity in Pt-WC electrocatalysts for ethanol oxidation in alkaline media [10].…”