Electrochemical performance of a Sb-doped SnO2 support synthesized by coprecipitation for oxygen reactions

Abstract

Highly dispersed platinum or platinum-based catalysts on a conductive support are commonly used as electrode materials in low-temperature fuel cells. Similarly, iridium oxide is the usual anode material in polymeric exchange membrane electrolyzers. The performance and, in particular, the stability of these catalysts strongly depends on the characteristics of the support. This study presents the results of the physicochemical and electrochemical characterization of the powers of antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) synthesized by a chemical coprecipitation method and a minimum calcination time. These supports were used as catalytic supports for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER). The ATO was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometry and four probe resistivity techniques. The electrochemical properties were obtained by cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear voltammetry (LV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE). The material obtained showed nanometric sizes of 4-9 nm, and the electrochemical results indicate that the synthesized ATO nanoparticles can be used as a support for IrO 2 and Pt in electrodes for PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells. Some mixtures of synthesized ATO and Vulcan carbon (VC) were assayed as mixed supports for ORR and OER and for acquiring a protective effect of ATO on the degradation of the carbon support.

Niobium- and antimony-doped tin dioxide aerogels as new catalyst supports for PEM fuel cells

“…The bulk conductivities of Nb-doped samples are still very low and far from that of Vulcan XC-72. In agreement with other studies [9,31,33,36,46,47], an impressive improvement in conductivity was observed for Sb-doped SnO 2 ( Table 5). X6SS100 (10 at.% Sb-doped SnO 2 xerogel) shows indeed the typical behavior of a conducting material (Fig.…”

“…However, electrochemical characteristics, like the electrochemical surface area (ECSA) or the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) mass and specific activities of Pt/SnO 2 electrocatalysts, are relatively low compared to those of Pt/C, mostly due to their poor electronic conductivity and low specific surface area. Recent studies have shown the potential of doping SnO 2 by Nb 5+ [26][27][28][29] or Sb 5+ [26,27,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. In addition to improving electronic conductivity, dopants are known to inhibit particle growth [37] and modify the material's morphology.…”

Enhancement of ethanol oxidation on Pd nanoparticles supported on carbon-antimony tin oxide hybrids unveils the relevance of electronic effects

“…Studies of the influence of antimony tin oxide (Sb 2 O 5 /SnO 2 -ATO) on the activity of Pt nanoparticles were carried out for alcohol oxidation [36][37][38][39] and oxygen reduction [40][41][42]. For Pd nanoparticles, the effect of ATO was investigated only for hydrogen peroxide reduction [43] and acid formic oxidation [44].…”

Highly Stable PEMFC Electrodes Based on Electrospun Antimony‐Doped SnO2

“…Antimony‐doped tin oxide (ATO) is one of the most investigated electrocatalyst supports, owing to its electrical conductivity, which is similar to that of carbon . Microporous antimony‐doped SnO 2 supports synthesised through hydrazine reduction and catalysed with platinum nanoparticles showed improved stability at high potential (only 5 % loss of surface area after 300 cycles at 1.45 V), but lower electrocatalytic activity than Pt/C catalysts .…”