Half-Sphere Shell Supported Pt Catalyst for Electrochemical Methanol Oxidation

Abstract

Bi-functional effect, elevated mass transport and increased durability have been combined within one catalyst for electrochemical methanol oxidation reaction. It has niobium (Nb) doped titanium dioxides (TiO2) nanosized half-sphere shell (HSS) as the substrate material deposited with small amount of Pt nanoparticles. These specially designed HSS nanostructure has significantly increased surface areas which are suitable for Pt nanoparticles to be deposited onto them to form the catalyst denoted as Pt/Nb-TiO2 HSS. It exhibits a remarkably high methanol oxidation activity of 0.21 V vs. RHE which is 0.05 V lower than HiSPEC10000 PtRu/C catalyst, due to the substrate's strong metal support interactions effect, bi-functional effect and the special structure.These HSS nanostructures have also increased the methanol diffusion and mass transport within the anode to give a maximum power output of 0.0931 W of cathode polarization in miniature direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). It also acts as protection shells, which minimises the dissolution of Pt metal nanoparticles to prevent its diffusion through the membrane.

Pd/TiO2 decorated carbon fibers as an efficient anode catalyst for methanol electro‐oxidation

“…All catalysts show two peaks corresponding to oxidation of methanol in the forward scan and removal of incompletely oxidized carbonaceous species adsorbed onto Pd during reverse scanning. The anodic peak current density (j p ) in the forward scan represents the electrocatalytic activity of the catalysts for methanol oxidation [19,20]. The j p of the Pd-2@CNFs, Pd-3@CNFs, Pd-4@CNFs, Pd-7@CNFs, and commercial Pd/C are 1582, 2748, 3416, 1022, 120, respectively.…”

Research progress of Co-based spinel oxide materials for direct methanol fuel cells

“…5,6 However, after in-depth exploration, it has been found that in addition to their expensiveness, Pt/Ru/PtRu alloy materials also have other defects such as inactivation due to CO poisoning on the surface of Pt/Ru/PtRu alloys, which greatly hinder their large-scale application and commercialization. [7][8][9] How to obtain more economic electrode materials without affecting their catalytic activity and durability is a great challenge in their research and practical applications. It is of great theoretical significance and practical application value to seek resource-rich elements to replace noble metal materials as catalysts, hence people gradually turn to the study of nonnoble metal-based electrocatalytic materials.…”

Ultra-thin N-doped carbon coated SnO2 nanotubes as anode material for high performance lithium-ion batteries

“…However, the most common products of hollow structured nanosized SnO2 are in spherical shape [31][32][33]. This is because the preparation methods that uses silica and polymer nanospheres as the template to maintain the deposition and growth of SnO2 nanocrystals, but the subsequent process of template removal is complicated [14,[34][35][36][37].…”