Abstract
The studies on Pt- or Pt alloy-based catalysts for ethanol oxidation have been focused mostly on their activity, with much less emphasis on their stability. Dissolution of commercial Pt–SnO2/C electrocatalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells was investigated on the atomic scale by employing two advanced electrochemical characterization techniques: (i) identical location scanning transmission electron microscopy (IL-STEM) and (ii) electrochemical flow cell connected to inductively coupled mass spectrometry (EFC–ICP–MS). IL-STEM provides electrochemically induced atomic scale insights into morphological and structural changes of Pt–SnO2/C Janus type nanoparticles, and the second methodological configuration enables potential- and time-resolved dissolution monitoring of individual metal counterparts with extremely high sensitivity, even in the presence of ethanol. We observe that Sn is mostly dissolving in the anodic potential ramp, which is, as a rule, not affected by the presence of ethanol. Surprisingly, Pt dissolution gets dramatically enhanced in the presence of ethanol with the onset already at 0.57 V. Compared to the experiment without ethanol, the onset is at 1.1 V, which is typical for Pt. We discuss the possible mechanisms governing these alterations.
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