Multi-walled carbon nanotubes supported Pt-Fe cathodic catalyst for direct methanol fuel cell

Multi-walled carbon nanotubes supported Pt-Fe cathodic catalyst shows higher specific activity towards oxygen reduction reaction as compared to Pt/MWNTs when employed as cathodic catalyst in direct methanol fuel cell.

Water reduction and oxidation on Pt-Ru/Y2Ta2O5N2 catalyst under visible light irradiation

Y2Ta2O5N2 is presented as a novel photocatalyst with high activity for water splitting under visible-light irradiation in the presence of appropriate sacrificial reagents; the activity for reduction to H-2 is increased by the incorporation of Pt or Ru as a co-catalyst, with a significant increase in production efficiency when both Pt and Ru are present.

Electrochemical designing of Au/Pt core shell nanoparticles as nanostructured catalyst with tunable activity for oxygen reduction

Au/Pt core shell nanoparticles (NPs) have been prepared via a layer-by-layer growth of Pt layers on An NPs using underpotential deposition (UPD) redox replacement technique. A single UPD Cu monolayer replacement with Pt(11) yielded a uniform Pt film on Au NPs, and the shell thickness can be tuned by controlling the number of UPD redox replacement cycles. Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in air-saturated 0.1 M H2SO4 was used to investigate the electrocatalytic behavior of the as-prepared core shell NPs. Cyclic voltammograms of ORR show that the peak potentials shift positively from 0.32 V to 0.48 V with the number of Pt layers increasing from one to five, suggesting the electrocatalytic activity increases with increasing the thickness of Pt shell. The increase in electrocatalytic activity may originate mostly from the large decrease of electronic influence of Au cores on surface Pt atoms. Rotating ring-disk electrode voltammetry and rotating disk electrode voltammetry demonstrate that ORR is mainly a four-electron reduction on the as-prepared modified electrode with 5 Pt layers and first charge transfer is the rate-determining step.

Effect of pretreatment of black carbon on electrocatalytic activity of Pt/C catalyst for methanol oxidation

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has attracted wide attention due to its many advantages. However, its practical application is limited by the low electrocatalytic activity of the anodic Pt/C catalyst usually used for the methanol oxidation. In this paper, in order to increase the electrocatalytic performance of the Pt/C catalyst for the methanol oxidation, the black carbon, usually used as the supporter, was pretreated with CO2, air, HNO3 or H2O2. The cyclic voltarnmetric results indicated that the current densities of the anodic peak of methanol oxidation at the Pt/C catalysts with the black carbon pretreated with CO2,air, HN03, H202 and untreated black carbon were 39, 33, 32, 20 and 18 mA center dot cm(-2), respectively, illustrating that among the above five kinds of the Pt/C catalysts, the Pt/C catalyst with the black carbon pretreated with CO2 shows the best electrocatalytic activity and stability for the methanol oxidation. Its main reason is that the CO2 pretreatment could reduce the content of the oxygen-containing groups on the surface of the black carbon and increase the content of graphite in the black carbon, leading to the low resistance of the black carbon and the increase in the dispersion extent of the Pt particles in the Pt/C catalyst.

Preparation of Pt/C catalyst with a new and simple organic sol method

It is reported for the first time that the Pt/C catalyst can be prepared with a new and simple organic sol method using SnCl2 as the reductant. It was found that the average size of the Pt particles in the Pt/C catalysts could be controlled with controlling the preparation conditions. The effect of the average sizes of the Pt particles in the Pt/C catalysts obtained with this method on the electrocatalytical activity of the oxidation of methanol was investigated.

Effect of borohydride as reducing agent on the structures and electrochemical properties of Pt/C catalyst

In this paper, we found that boron deposited on the surface of support when sodium borohydride used as reducing agent during the preparation of Pt/C catalyst. The deposition of boron markedly reduces particle size of Pt, raises electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst and electrochemical activity for hydrogen evolution or oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared with which prepared using other reducing agents (hydrogen and formaldehyde).

Preparation of Pt/C catalyst with solid phase reaction method

The PVC catalyst was prepared with solid phase reaction method (Pt/C(S)) for the first time. Its performances were compared with that prepared by the traditional liquid phase reaction method. The results demonstrate that the electrocatalytic activity of PVC catalyst with solid phase reaction method for methanol oxidation is higher than that with liquid phase reaction method. XRD and TEM measurements indicate that the Pt/C(S) possesses low crystalline extent and small particle size.

Partial oxidation of methane to syngas over Pt-Ni/Al2O3 Catalyst

The catalytic partial oxidation of methane to syngas over Ni/Al2O3, Pt/Al2O3 and a series of Pt - Ni/Al2O3 catalysts was investigated. It was found that Pt - Ni/Al2O3 catalysts exhibit higher activity and stability than Ni/Al2O3 and Pt/Al2O3. TPR and TPD methods were used to characterize Pt - Ni bimetallic interactions in the catalysts. A series of Pt - Ni/Al2O3 catalysts and unsupported Pt - Ni samples were studied by XRD and XPS. It was found the formation of Pt - Ni alloy in the Pt - Ni/Al2O3 catalysts and the enrichment of platinum on the surface of the catalysts. It is concluded that the higher activity and stability of Pt - Ni/Al2O3 catalysts were caused by Pt - Ni bimetallic interactions.

Heterogeneous asymmetric hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate on chirally modified Pt/Al2O3 catalyst with fixed-bed reactor

The enantioselective hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate on the cinchonidine modified Pt/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated using a high-pressure reaction system with a fixed-bed reactor for the purpose to produce the,chiral product without separating the catalyst from the reaction system. The reaction was also investigated in a batch reactor for comparison. About 60% e. e. and 90% e. e. were obtained with the fixed-bed reactor and the batch reactor respectively, demonstrating the possibility for the heterogeneous asymmetric hydrogenation in the fixed-bed reactor. Some adsorbed chiral modifier, cinchonidine, can be slowly removed from the surface of Pt/Al2O3 under the continuous flow reaction, as a result, the e, e, values drops with the reaction time in the fixed-bed reactor. The enantio-selectivity is higher in the fixed-bed reactor, but lower in the batch reactor when ethanol was used as solvent than that when acetic acid as solvent. CO was used as molecular probe to characterize the adsorption of cinchonidine an the catalyst surface by IR spectroscopy, A red shift observed in IR spectra of coadsorbed CO with cinchonidine suggests that the cinchonidine adsorption is mainly through the pi -interaction with platinum surface and donating electron to the platinum surface.