Electrodeposition of Mesoporous Ni-Rich Ni-Pt Films for Highly Efficient Methanol Oxidation.

Raül Artal,Albert Serrà,Elvira Gómez,Johann Michler,Laëtitia Philippe

doi:10.3390/nano10081435

Abstract

The use of soft templates for the electrosynthesis of mesoporous materials has shown tremendous potential in energy and environmental domains. Among all the approaches that have been featured in the literature, block copolymer-templated electrodeposition had robustness and a simple method, but it practically cannot be used for the synthesis of mesoporous materials not based on Pt or Au. Nonetheless, extending and understanding the possibilities and limitations of block copolymer-templated electrodeposition to other materials and substrates is still challenging. Herein, a critical analysis of the role of the solution’s primary electroactive components and the applied potential were performed in order to understand their influences on the mesostructure of Ni-rich Ni-Pt mesoporous films. Among all the components, tetrahydrofuran and a platinum (IV) complex were shown to be crucial for the formation of a truly 3D mesoporous network. The electrosynthesized well-ordered mesoporous Ni-rich Ni-Pt deposits exhibit excellent electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation in alkaline conditions, improved stability and durability after 1000 cycles, and minimal CO poisoning.

Highlights

As global warming’s dramatic effects on ecosystems escalate due to rising carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, the demand for clean renewable energies has intensified research on sustainable technologies able to replace ones dependent upon exhaustible fossil fuels [1,2,3]
A systematic study of the various components of the system was performed in order to identify the limitations and robustness of using block copolymer-templated electrodeposition to electrosynthesize mesoporous materials
Analogous general behavior was observed with the Si/Ti/Au electrodes (Figure 1b), the reduction peaks in the PS-b-polyethylene oxide (PEO) (Bath 2) and Ni solutions (Bath 3) began at slightly more negative potentials of around −0.65 V than with the THF solution (Bath 1), which began peaking at approximately −0.5 V

Summary

Introduction

As global warming’s dramatic effects on ecosystems escalate due to rising carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, the demand for clean renewable energies has intensified research on sustainable technologies able to replace ones dependent upon exhaustible fossil fuels [1,2,3]. Fuel cells and supercapacitors are promising ecofriendly electrochemical technologies for energy conversion and storage, respectively, thanks to their tremendous potential to improve energy efficiency and reduce both carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions [4,5]. The transition to future energy systems has involved the development of efficient fuel cells with high power and energy density, as well as long-term stability, and the use of virtually inexhaustible fuels (e.g., hydrogen and alcohols). Vulcan carbon black ranks among the most widely used supports in such systems; its implementation requires overcoming some important limitations, including electrochemical oxidation corrosion to carbon dioxide under conditions of fuel cell operation and the resulting agglomeration, usually in the form of nanoparticles, all of which significantly decrease the system’s efficiency [17,18,19]

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Conclusion