Synthesis of Co-Fe nanoparticle supported on titanium oxide-nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) as enhanced oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst

Abstract

The performance of electrocatalyst is usually limited owing to the slow electron transfer kinetics of cathode reduction reaction. Therefore, the development of high-performance cathode catalysts has an impact on the wide-spread application of fuel cells. The improvement of appropriate doping approaches is important to achieve high-performance electrocatalytic resources. Herein, a series of Co-Fe @ TiO2-NTs electrocatalytic composites were synthesized by doping various amounts of metals. The synthesis, physiochemical and electrocatalytic activity of cobalt (Co) and iron (Fe) nanocatalysts supported on one dimensional (1-D) titanium oxide-nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) matrix towards oxygen reduction reaction was reported. The Co-Fe nanoparticles confined in TiO2 nanotube were produced as the oxygen reduction electrocatalyst by hydrothermal and reduction method. Electrochemical tests showed that the reduction peak current of −0.305 mA was recorded for catalyst Co-Fe (7:3) @ TiO2-NTs and was observed to be 1.50 times superior to that for the catalyst commercial catalyst Pt/C (-0.202 mA). The electrochemical characterizations of these nanocatalysts also suggest that the Co-Fe (7:3) @ TiO2-NTs showed lower charge transfer resistance (109.4 Ω) in comparison to Pt/C (350.4 Ω) towards oxygen reduction reactions (ORR). These superior electrochemical results suggested that Co-Fe nanoparticle supported on titanium oxide-nanotubes (TiO2-NTs) could be applied as a potential alternative to the commercial Pt/C cathode catalyst for their application as oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst in a neutral medium.