Effect of Ni Core Structure on the Electrocatalytic Activity of Pt-Ni/C in Methanol Oxidation

Jian Kang; Rongfang Wang; Hui Wang; Shijun Liao; Julian Key; Vladimir Linkov; Shan Ji

doi:10.3390/ma6072689

Effect of Ni Core Structure on the Electrocatalytic Activity of Pt-Ni/C in Methanol Oxidation

Materials (Basel). 2013 Jul 8;6(7):2689-2700. doi: 10.3390/ma6072689.

Authors

Jian Kang¹, Rongfang Wang², Hui Wang³, Shijun Liao⁴, Julian Key⁵, Vladimir Linkov⁶, Shan Ji⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education of China, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China. kangjian_2006@126.com.
² Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education of China, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China. wrf38745779@126.com.
³ Key Laboratory of Eco-Environment-Related Polymer Materials, Ministry of Education of China, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, China. wanghui3931@126.com.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Fuel Cell Technology of Guangdong Province, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangdong, Guangzhou 510640, China. chsjliao@scut.edu.cn.
⁵ South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa. joolskey@uwc.ac.za.
⁶ South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa. vlinkov@uwc.ac.za.
⁷ South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7535, South Africa. sji@uwc.ac.za.

Abstract

Methanol oxidation catalysts comprising an outer Pt-shell with an inner Ni-core supported on carbon, (Pt-Ni/C), were prepared with either crystalline or amorphous Ni core structures. Structural comparisons of the two forms of catalyst were made using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and methanol oxidation activity compared using CV and chronoamperometry (CA). While both the amorphous Ni core and crystalline Ni core structures were covered by similar Pt shell thickness and structure, the Pt-Ni(amorphous)/C catalyst had higher methanol oxidation activity. The amorphous Ni core thus offers improved Pt usage efficiency in direct methanol fuel cells.

Keywords: amorphous; core-shell structure; electrocatalysts; fuel cell; methanol oxidation.