Methanol electrocatalytic oxidation over Pt nanoparticles anchoring on three-dimensional carbon nanosheet rich in oxygen functional groups

Abstract

In this paper, three-dimensional carbon nanosheets (CS) were treated at different temperatures in an atmosphere of ozone, then obtained a series of Pt/OCS-X catalysts through the loading of Pt, including Pt/CS, Pt/OCS-25, Pt/OCS-90, Pt/OCS-160 and Pt/OCS-200. To prove that ozone oxidation can effectively improve the activity of the catalyst, these catalysts were tested by methanol electrocatalytic oxidation reaction (MOR). It is discovered that ozone treatment could greatly increase the number of oxygen-containing functional groups, and the HO–CO content was greatly improved after the modulation of treated temperature. It is discovered that the Pt/OCS-160 sample exhibits the best activity with a peak current density of 37.7 mA cm−2 at the forward scan due to the excellent lamellar structure, good crystallinity, and abundant pore structure of CS, which is a benefit to form ultrahigh specific surface area, superb electron, and ionic conductivity. Meanwhile, the capacity of anti-poisoning of Pt/CS after O3 treatment is enhanced obviously.