Abstract
The present work addresses the potentialities of Pt–Ru nanoparticles deposited on a graphene oxide (RGO) and TiO2 composite support towards electrochemical oxidation of ethanol in acidic media relevant for fuel cell applications. To immobilize platinum–ruthenium bimetallic nanoparticles on to an RGO-TiO2 nanohybrid support a simple solution-phase chemical reduction method is utilized. An examination using electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) indicated that Pt–Ru particles of 4–8 nm in diameter are dispersed on RGO-TiO2 composite support. The corresponding Pt–Ru/RGO-TiO2 nanocomposite electrocatalyst was studied for the electrochemical oxidation of ethanol in acidic media. Compared to the commercial Pt–Ru/C and Pt/C catalysts, Pt–Ru/RGO-TiO2 nanocomposite yields higher mass-specific activity of about 1.4 and 3.2 times, respectively towards ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR). The synergistic boosting provided by RGO-TiO2 composite support and Pt–Ru ensemble together contributed to the observed higher EOR activity and stability to Pt–Ru/RGO-TiO2 nanocomposite compared with other in-house synthesized Pt–Ru/RGO, Pt/RGO and commercial Pt–Ru/C and Pt/C electrocatalysts. Further optimization of RGO-TiO2 composite support provides opportunity to deposit many other types of metallic nanoparticles onto it for fuel cell electrocatalysis applications.
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