Abstract
The Pt-Bi (Bi2O3)/GNs (PVP) composite was synthesized using aqueous solution synthesis and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that the water-soluble polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) helped to tune the particles’ morphology, resulting in a uniform distribution of Pt-Bi nanoclusters on the surface of graphene. Cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and linear scanning voltammetry (LSV) were used to study the electrocatalytic properties towards a methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). The results show that Pt-Bi (Bi2O3)/GNs (PVP) exhibits superior bifunctional electrocatalytic properties for both MOR and ORR, mainly due to the introduction of oxophilic Bi species and the better dispersion of the Pt-Bi nanoclusters. In particular, the electro-photo catalysis for both MOR and ORR occurred under simulated sunlight irradiation due to the existence of photo-responsive Bi species, which is helpful for converting solar energy into electric energy during a traditional electrocatalytic process.
Highlights
Fuel cells have a wide range of applications in our daily life because they can transform the chemical energy of fuel into electricity through electrochemical reactions directly
We have previously reported an etched Pt-Bi (Bi2 O3 )/graphene nanosheets (GNs) (Etching) catalyst, which exhibited superior electrocatalysis than the commercial catalysts for catalyzing methanol oxidation [25]
The Pt-Bi (Bi2 O3 )/GNs (PVP) composite was obtained by aqueous solution synthesis with the aid of the morphology tuning polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP)
Summary
Fuel cells have a wide range of applications in our daily life because they can transform the chemical energy of fuel into electricity through electrochemical reactions directly. Ding [16] reported a core-shell Ni@Pt catalyst and found that the unique structure and the electronic effects of the various metals were responsible for its high electrocatalytic performances. The tolerance to CO poisoning of the Pt-based catalysts can be improved by increasing the oxide species among Pt-M bimetals’ surface due to the oxophilic properties of the second cheap metal [20], which may be the other force for improving the performance. The Pt-Bi (Bi2 O3 )/GNs (PVP) composite had an electro-photo synergistic catalytic effect on catalyzing the MOR and the ORR under simulated sunlight irradiation due to the existence of the photosensitive species (Bi2 O3 ), which harvests the simulator sunlight to assist electrocatalysts to convert chemical energy into electric energy
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