An acetic acid refluxing-electrochemistry combined strategy to activate supported-platinum electrocatalysts--颗粒学报PARTICUOLOGY

Feng, Y., Pan, J., Liu, H., & Yang, J. (2017). An acetic acid refluxing-electrochemistry combined strategy to activate supported-platinum electrocatalysts. Particuology, 30, 111-117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.partic.2016.04.003

An acetic acid refluxing-electrochemistry combined strategy to activate supported-platinum electrocatalysts

Yan Feng ^{a b}, Jinding Pan ^{a b}, Hui Liu ^{a c}, Jun Yang ^{a c *}

a State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Complex Systems, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China
c Center for Mesoscience, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

10.1016/j.partic.2016.04.003

Volume 30, February 2017, Pages 111-117

Received 4 February 2016, Revised 5 April 2016, Accepted 16 April 2016, Available online 3 July 2016, Version of Record 27 January 2017.

E-mail: jyang@ipe.ac.cn

Highlights

• Pt nanoparticles capped with amine- or thiol-based surfactants were loaded on carbon substrates.

• The amine- or thiol-based surfactants were protonated by refluxing in acetic acid.

• The protonated surfactants were removed from Pt particle surface by an electrochemical process.

• The activated Pt particles exhibited higher activity for methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction.

Abstract

Surfactant removal from the surface of platinum-based nanoparticles prepared using solution-based methods is a prerequisite to realize their high catalytic performance for electrochemical reactions. Herein, we report an effective approach combining acetic acid refluxing with an electrochemical process for the removal of amine- or thiol-based capping agents from the surface of supported-platinum nanoparticles. This strategy involves surfactant protonation by refluxing the supported-platinum particles in acetic acid followed by surfactant removal by subsequent electrochemical treatment at high potential. We demonstrate that this combined activation process is essential to enhance platinum particle performance in catalyzing direct methanol fuel cell reactions, including methanol oxidation and oxygen reduction reactions. The studies in this work show promise in electrocatalysis applications of solution-based materials synthesis.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Platinum; Nanoparticle; Methanol oxidation reaction; Oxygen reduction reaction; Electrocatalysis

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