Catalytic activities of Ag/C decorated with small amounts of Au and Pt for glycerol oxidation

Abstract

The two-step decoration of the Ag nanoparticles supported on carbon black (Ag/C) with Au and Pt, the electrooxidation of glycerol on the Pt/Au/Ag/C catalysts in alkaline solution, and the effect of the amounts of Au and Pt on the catalytic activity of Pt/Au/Ag/C are investigated. The decoration of Ag/C is performed by electrochemically depositing a small amount of Au and then Pt on Ag/C, and the Ptx/Auy/Ag100/C catalysts with different x:y:100 ratios (0.15 ≤ x ≤ 1.9 and 0.2 ≤ y ≤ 1.5) are obtained. Physical and electrochemical characterizations reveal that small parts of the Ag surfaces are covered by the deposited Au and Pt. Ptx/Auy/Ag100/C mainly shows Pt-relevant behaviors in glycerol oxidation, and Pt1.3/Auy/Ag100/C exhibits high catalytic activities. The results reveal that the surface decoration is a useful method of fabricating efficient ternary catalysts at low cost.