The influence of mass-transport conditions on the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) mechanism of Pt/C electrocatalysts

This study aims to provide further understanding of the influence of different parameters that control mass-transport (the revolution rate of the rotating disk electrode and the potential scan rate) on the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR).

Influence of H- and OH-adsorbates on the ethanol oxidation reaction--a DEMS study

The ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) was investigated by potentiodynamic techniques on Pt/C, Rh/C, Pt-Rh/C, Pt-SnO2/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C by differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (DEMS) in a flow cell system. Prior to the cyclic voltammetries, adsorption of H- and OH-species was carried out by chronoamperometry at Ead = 0.05 and 1 V vs. RHE, respectively, in order to examine their influence on the EOR on the different electrocatalysts. For the sake of comparison, another adsorption potential was chosen at Ead = 0.3 V vs. RHE, in the double layer region (i.e. in the absence of such adsorbates). For this study, 20 wt% electrocatalysts were synthesized using a modified polyol method and were physically characterized by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). When comparing the first and second cycles of the cyclic voltammograms (CVs) on Pt/C and Pt-SnO2/C, the presence of Had on the electrocatalyst surface seems to hinder the initiation of the ethanol electrooxidation, whereas the reaction onset potential is shifted negatively with the presence of OH-adsorbates. In contrast to them, the EOR on Rh/C is enhanced when the electrocatalyst surface is covered with Had and is inhibited after adsorption at Ead = 0.3 and 1 V vs. RHE. Finally, on Pt-Rh/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C, neither the H- nor OH-adsorbates do impact the EOR initiation. The lowest EOR onset was recorded on Pt-SnO2/C and Pt-Rh-SnO2/C electrocatalysts. The CO2 currency efficiency (CCE) was also determined for each electrocatalyst and demonstrated higher values on Pt-Rh-SnO2/C.

Reversibility of Pt-Skin and Pt-Skeleton Nanostructures in Acidic Media

Following a well-defined series of acid and heat treatments on a benchmark Pt3Co/C sample, three different nanostructures of interest for the electrocatalysis of the oxygen reduction reaction were tailored. These nanostructures could be sorted into the "Pt-skin" structure, made of one pure Pt overlayer, and the "Pt-skeleton" structure, made of 2-3 Pt overlayers surrounding the Pt-Co alloy core. Using a unique combination of high-resolution aberration-corrected STEM-EELS, XRD, EXAFS, and XANES measurements, we provide atomically resolved pictures of these different nanostructures, including measurement of the Pt-shell thickness forming in acidic media and the resulting changes of the bulk and core chemical composition. It is shown that the Pt-skin is reverted toward the Pt-skeleton upon contact with acid electrolyte. This change in structure causes strong variations of the chemical composition.