Preparation and electrocatalytic characteristics of the Pt-based anode catalysts for ethanol oxidation in acid and alkaline media

Abstract

The current study reports the preparation and investigation of several Pt-based anode catalysts loaded on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as electrocatalysts in both acid and alkaline media for ethanol electrooxidation. The synthesized catalysts are evaluated by the method of XRD, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and TEM. Electrocatalytic properties of these catalysts for ethanol oxidation were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. It was found that the as-prepared nanocatalysts doped by metals and oxide metals showed the improvement of catalytic performance compared to Pt-only supported on graphene catalyst. The results indicated that the presence of Al favoured Pt nanoparticles dispersing on the surface of rGO sheets. Indeed, the PAG catalyst exhibits the highest mass activity for the ethanol oxidation of 1194 mA mg−1Pt in acid medium and 3691 mA mg−1Pt in alkaline medium. In addition, the PAG catalyst also shows good antipoisoning ability for ethanol electrooxidation in both media. This catalyst could be a potential catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC).