Recent Advances in Anode Electrocatalysts for Direct Formic Acid Fuel Cell-II-Platinum-Based Catalysts

Platinum-based catalysts have a long history of application in formic acid oxidation (FAO). The single metal Pt is active in FAO but expensive, scarce, and rapidly deactivates. Understanding the mechanism of FAO over Pt important for the rational design of catalysts. Pt nanomaterials rapidly deactivate because of the CO poisoning of Pt active sites via the dehydration pathway. Alloying with another transition metal improves the performance of Pt-based catalysts through bifunctional, ensemble, and steric effects. Supporting Pt catalysts on a high-surface-area support material is another technique to improve their overall catalytic activity. This review summarizes recent findings on the mechanism of FAO over Pt and Pt-based alloy catalysts. It also summarizes and analyzes binary and ternary Pt-based catalysts to understand their catalytic activity and structure relationship.

Pt Deposits on Bi-Modified Pt Electrodes of Nanoparticle and Disk: A Contrasting Behavior of Formic Acid Oxidation

This work presents a contrasting behavior of formic acid oxidation (FAO) on the Pt and Bi deposits on different Pt substrates. Using irreversible adsorption method, Bi and Pt were sequentially deposited on Pt electrodes of nanoparticle (Pt NP) and disk (Pt disk). The deposited layers of Bi and Pt on the Pt substrates were characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, transmission microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. The electrochemical behaviors and FAO enhancements of Pt NP and Pt disk with deposited Bi only (i.e., Bi/Pt NP and Bi/Pt disk), were similar to each other. However, additional deposition of Pt on Bi/Pt NP and Bi/Pt disk (i.e., Pt/Bi/Pt NP and Pt/Bi/Pt disk) changed the electrochemical behavior and FAO activity in different ways depending on the shapes of the Pt substrates. With Pt/Bi/Pt NP, the hydrogen adsorption was suppressed and the surface oxidation of Pt was enhanced; while with Pt/Bi/Pt disk, the opposite behavior was observed. This difference was interpreted as a stronger interaction between the deposited Bi and Pt on Pt NP than that on Pt disk. The FAO performance on Pt/Bi/Pt NP is much better than that on Pt/Bi/Pt disk, most likely due to the difference in the interaction between the deposited Pt and Bi depending on the shapes of Pt substrates. In designing FAO electrochemical catalysts using Pt and Bi, the shape of a Pt substrate was concluded to be critically considered.

Single Crystal Electrochemistry as an In Situ Analytical Characterization Tool

The electrochemical behavior of platinum single crystal surfaces can be taken as a model response for the interpretation of the activity of heterogeneous electrodes. The cyclic voltammogram of a given platinum electrode can be considered a fingerprint characteristic of the distribution of sites on its surface. We start this review by providing some simple mathematical descriptions of the voltammetric response in the presence of adsorption processes. We then describe the voltammogram of platinum basal planes, followed by the response of stepped surfaces. The voltammogram of polycrystalline materials can be understood as a composition of the response of the different basal contributions. Further resolution in the discrimination of different surface sites can be achieved with the aid of surface modification using adatoms such as bismuth or germanium. The application of these ideas is exemplified with the consideration of real catalysts composed of platinum nanoparticles with preferential shapes.

Pt Deposits on Bi/Pt NP Catalyst for Formic Acid Oxidation: Catalytic Enhancement and Longer Lifetime

This work presents an improvement in the activity and catalytic lifetime of Pt deposits on Bi-modified Pt nanoparticles (Bi/Pt NP) toward formic acid oxidation (FAO). Using an irreversible adsorption method, Bi was deposited on Pt NP to form Bi/Pt NP and sequentially Pt was deposited on Bi/Pt NP to form Pt/Bi/Pt NP. Voltammetric studies of Pt NP, Bi/Pt NP, and Pt/Bi/Pt NPs supported that Pt deposits of Pt/Bi/Pt NPs provided quite a unique behavior: simultaneous surface oxidation of deposited Pt and Bi and significant resistance to the oxidative removal of Bi. Furthermore, combined spectroscopic investigations revealed that the concentration of the employed Pt precursor ion solution determined the amount of deposited Pt from ∼0.2 to ∼0.4 in coverage. The best Pt/Bi/Pt NP catalyst with a Pt coverage of ∼0.25 enhanced the dehydrogenation processes below ∼0.4 V by a factor of more than 2 and increased the FAO current at ∼0.8 V roughly by 15 times, referring to those of Bi/Pt NP. The lifetime measurement works revealed that after the 1000th voltammetric cycle to 0.4 V, the FAO currents of Pt/Bi/Pt NPs were 2 and 4 times higher than those of Bi/Pt NP and Pt NP, respectively. The Pt deposits on Bi/Pt NP were concluded to play two roles in FAO: the promotion of FAO processes to increase the activity and the retardation of Bi oxidative removal to maintain the activity much longer.

Shape-Controlled Nanoparticles as Anodic Catalysts in Low-Temperature Fuel Cells

The great dependence of the electrocatalytic activity of most electrochemical reactions on the catalytic surface area and specific surface structure is widely accepted. Building on the extensive knowledge already available on single-crystal surfaces, this Perspective discusses the recent progress made in low-temperature fuel cells through the use of the most active shape-controlled noble metal-based nanoparticles. In particular, we will focus on discussing structure-composition-reactivity correlations in methanol, ethanol, and formic acid oxidation reactions and will offer a general vision of future needs.

Shape-controlled metal nanoparticles for electrocatalytic applications

The application of shape-controlled metal nanoparticles is profoundly impacting the field of electrocatalysis. On the one hand, their use has remarkably enhanced the electrocatalytic activity of many different reactions of interest. On the other hand, their usage is deeply contributing to a correct understanding of the correlations between shape/surface structure and electrochemical reactivity at the nanoscale. However, from the point of view of an electrochemist, there are a number of questions that must be fully satisfied before the evaluation of the shaped metal nanoparticles as electrocatalysts including (i) surface cleaning, (ii) surface structure characterization, and (iii) correlations between particle shape and surface structure. In this chapter, we will cover all these aspects. Initially, we will collect and discuss about the different practical protocols and procedures for obtaining clean shaped metal nanoparticles. This is an indispensable requirement for the establishment of correct correlations between shape/surface structure and electrochemical reactivity. Next, we will also report how some easy-to-do electrochemical experiments including their subsequent analyses can enormously contribute to a detailed characterization of the surface structure of the shaped metal nanoparticles. At this point, we will remark that the key point determining the resulting electrocatalytic activity is the surface structure of the nanoparticles (obviously, the atomic composition is also extremely relevant) but not the particle shape. Finally, we will summarize some of the most significant advances/results on the use of these shaped metal nanoparticles in electrocatalysis covering a wide range of electrocatalytic reactions including fuel cell-related reactions (electrooxidation of formic acid, methanol and ethanol and oxygen reduction) and also CO2 electroreduction.

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Citrate-Coated, Size-Tunable Octahedral Platinum Nanocrystals: A Novel Route for Advanced Electrocatalysts

The development of green and scalable syntheses for the preparation of size- and shape-controlled metal nanocrystals is of high interest in many areas, including catalysis, electrocatalysis, nanomedicine, and electronics. In this work, a new synthetic approach based on the synergistic action of physical parameters and reagents produces size-tunable octahedral Pt nanocrystals, without the use of catalyst-poisoning reagents and/or difficult-to-remove coatings. The synthesis requires sodium citrate, ascorbic acid, and fine control of the reduction rate in aqueous environment. Pt octahedral nanocrystals with particle size as low as 7 nm and highly developed {111} facets have been achieved, as demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electrochemical methods. The absence of sticky molecules together with the high quality of the surface makes these nanocrystals ideal candidates in electrocatalysis. Notably, 7 nm bismuth-decorated octahedral nanocrystals exhibit superior performance for the electrooxidation of formic acid in terms of both specific and mass activities.

Correlation between Formic Acid Oxidation and Oxide Species on Pt(Bi)/GC and Pt/GC Electrode through the Effect of Forward Potential Scan Limit

Following earlier works from our laboratory, further experiments on electrochemical behavior in formic acid oxidation at electrodeposited Pt(Bi)/GC and Pt/GC electrode were performed in order to examine the effect of successive increase of the forward potential scan limit. Correlation between formic acid oxidation and oxide species on Pt(Bi)/GC electrode with increases of forward potential scan limit is based on the dependency of the backward peak potential from backward peak current. The obtained dependency reveals Bi influence for the scan limits up to 0.8 V. Since the Pt(Bi)/GC electrode is composed of Bi core occluded by Pt and Bi-oxide surface layer, the observed behavior is explained through the influence of surface metal oxide on easier formation of OHad species. Nevertheless, the influence of electronic modification of Pt surface atoms by underlying Bi is present and leads to the stronger adsorption of OH on Pt. At higher forward potential scan limits (from 0.8 V), Pt has a dominant role in HCOOH oxidation.

Porous AgPt@Pt Nanooctahedra as an Efficient Catalyst toward Formic Acid Oxidation with Predominant Dehydrogenation Pathway

For direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs), the dehydrogenation pathway is a desired reaction pathway, to boost the overall cell efficiency. Elaborate composition tuning and nanostructure engineering provide two promising strategies to design efficient electrocatalysts for DFAFCs. Herein, we present a facile synthesis of porous AgPt bimetallic nanooctahedra with enriched Pt surface (denoted as AgPt@Pt nanooctahedra) by a selective etching strategy. The smart integration of geometric and electronic effect confers a substantial enhancement of desired dehydrogenation pathway as well as electro-oxidation activity for the formic acid oxidation reaction (FAOR). We anticipate that the obtained nanocatalyst may hold great promises in fuel cell devices, and furthermore, the facile synthetic strategy demonstrated here can be extendable for the fabrication of other multicomponent nanoalloys with desirable morphologies and enhanced electrocatalytic performances.

Electrocatalysis of formic acid on palladium and platinum surfaces: from fundamental mechanisms to fuel cell applications

A brief overview is presented on recent progress in mechanistic studies of formic acid oxidation, synthesis of novel Pd- and Pt-based nanocatalysts and their practical applications in direct formic acid fuel cells.