Niobium Dioxide Facilitating Methanol Electrooxidation on Pt/C Catalyst by Synergistic Effect. Issue 5 (18th July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, N.; Zhang, S.; Gao, Y.; Yin, G.
• Is Part Of: Fuel cells. Volume 13:Issue 5(2013:Oct.)
• Page Start: 895
• Page End: 902
• Publication Date: 2013-07-18
• Subjects: Fuel cells -- Periodicals; 621.312429
• DOI: 10.1002/fuce.201300002
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1615-6846

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" xml:lang="en"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>In this work, Pt nanoparticles are deposited on NbO₂‐modified carbon composites and evaluated as promising direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) electrocatalysts. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) indicate that Pt nanoparticles (about 2.5 nm) are uniformly dispersed on NbO₂‐modified carbon composites. Electrochemical measurements show that the mass activity toward methanol electrooxidation on Pt/NbO₂‐C is as high as 3.0 times that of conventional Pt/C. Meanwhile, the onset potential of CO oxidation is negatively shifted by about 46 mV as compared with that of Pt/C, which means that the synergistic effect between NbO₂ and Pt facilitates the feasible removal of poisoning intermediate CO during methanol electrooxidation. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) characterizations reveal the electron transfer from Nb to Pt, which suppress the poisoning CO adsorption on Pt nanoparticles and facilitate methanol electrooxidation. NbO₂ nanoparticles facilitate methanol electrooxidation on Pt/C catalyst by synergistic effect and electronic effect, which represents a step in the right direction for the development of excellent fuel cell anode electrocatalysts.</p> </abstract>