Enhancement of electroactivity of platinum–tungsten trioxide nanocomposites with NaOH-treated carbon support toward methanol oxidation reaction. (15th February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lin, Cheng-Lan; Wang, Chih-Chung
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 164(2016)
• Page Start: 1043
• Page End: 1051
• Publication Date: 2016-02-15
• Subjects: Methanol oxidation reaction -- Electrocatalyst -- Nanocomposite -- Tungsten trioxide; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2015.01.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: Pt–WO3 /C electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction is synthesized. WO3 is derived from the hydrolyzation of WCl6 in dimethylformamide solution. NaOH-treated carbon black support promotes the electrocatalytic activity of Pt. Superior electrocatalytic activity than commercial Pt/C and PtRu/C is achieved. Abstract: Platinum–tungsten trioxide nanocomposite electrocatalysts on carbon black support (Pt–WO3 /C) are synthesized and their electrocatalytic performances toward methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) are investigated in this study. Tungsten trioxide, which derived from the hydrolysis of tungsten hexachloride (WCl6 ) in dimethylformamide (DMF) solution, is firstly deposited onto pristine or NaOH-treated Vulcan XC-72 carbon black (C or Cs ) support to obtain tungsten trioxide/carbon black (WO3 /C or WO3 /Cs ) nanocomposites, and then Pt nanoparticles are decorated onto these nanocomposites by polyol method to obtain Pt–WO3 /C or Pt–WO3 /Cs electrocatalysts. XRD and TEM characterizations are performed to examine the WO3 structures and the size distributions of the Pt nanoparticles. The effects of WO3 loading, annealing temperature and the NaOH-treatment of carbon black support on MOR mass activity and CO-tolerance ability of the electrocatalysts are investigated. The electrocatalyst (PtW(0.08)Cs 200) with the WO3 /Cs nanocomposite derived from a DMF solution containing 0.08 M WCl6, using NaOH-treated XC-72 carbon black as the support and annealed at 200 °C, achieves the highest MOR activity among all the electrocatalysts synthesized in this study. The MOR performances of PtW(0.08)Cs 200 is superior to that of the commercial E-TEK Pt(20 wt%)/C and E-TEK PtRu(20 wt%)/C electrocatalysts under the same test conditions.