Method for studying high temperature aqueous electrochemical systems: Methanol and glycerol oxidation

Enhancement Strategy of Photoelectrocatalytic Activity of Cobalt-Copper Layer Double Hydroxide toward Methanol Oxidation: Cerium Doping and Modification with Porphyrin

Designing durable, high-active, and low-cost noble-metal-free photoelectrocatalysts for methanol electrooxidation is highly demanded but remains a challenge. Herein, the photoelectrocatalytic activity of cobalt-copper layer double hydroxide (CoCu-LDH) for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) in the alkaline media under light was remarkably enhanced by cerium (Ce) doping and further by 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-carboxylphenyl)porphyrin (TCPP) modification. TCPP/Ce-CoCu-LDH exhibits a remarkable mass activity of 1788.2 mA mg^-1 in 1 mol L^-1 KOH with 1 mol L^-1 methanol under light, which is 2.3 and 1.8 times higher than that of CoCu-LDH (782.2 mA mg^-1) and Ce-CoCu-LDH (987.4 mA mg^-1). The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra and photoluminescence emission spectra reveal that TCPP/Ce-CoCu-LDH can effectively utilize the visible light and inhibit the electron-hole pairs' recombination because of the introduction of porphyrin. Furthermore, more active sites and the greater electrical conductivity of TCPP/Ce-CoCu-LDH also contributed to the high photoelectrocatalytic activity. Thus, TCPP/Ce-CoCu-LDH can be used as a low-cost alternative for Pt-based catalyst toward MOR.

Platinum-Based Electrocatalysts for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells: Enhanced Performances toward Alcohol Oxidation Reactions

In the past few decades, Pt-based electrocatalysts have attracted great interests due to their high catalytic performances toward the direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC). However, the high cost, poor stability, and the scarcity of Pt have markedly hindered their large-scale utilization in commerce. Therefore, enhancing the activity and durability of Pt-based electrocatalysts, reducing the Pt amount and thus the cost of DAFC have become the keys for their practical applications. In this minireview, we summarized some basic concepts to evaluate the catalytic performances in electrocatalytic alcohol oxidation reaction (AOR) including electrochemical active surface area, activity and stability, the effective approaches for boosting the catalytic AOR performance involving size decrease, structure and morphology modulation, composition effect, catalyst supports, and assistance under other external energies. Furthermore, we also presented the remaining challenges of the Pt-based electrocatalysts to achieve the fabrication of a real DAFC.