Synthesis of Pt-Ni (trace)/GNs composite and its bi-functional electrocatalytic properties for MOR and ORR

Ying Liu; Zhongshui Li; Shuhong Xu; Yixin Xie; Yixiang Ye; Xiaohuan Zou; Shen Lin

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2019.07.052

Synthesis of Pt-Ni (trace)/GNs composite and its bi-functional electrocatalytic properties for MOR and ORR

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2019 Oct 15:554:640-649. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.07.052. Epub 2019 Jul 20.

Authors

Ying Liu¹, Zhongshui Li², Shuhong Xu¹, Yixin Xie¹, Yixiang Ye¹, Xiaohuan Zou¹, Shen Lin³

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China.
² College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China.
³ College of Chemistry & Materials Science, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Fuzhou 350007, China; Fujian Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350007, China. Electronic address: shenlin@fjnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 31351334
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.07.052

Abstract

An aqueous solution synthesis method was used to synthesize a Pt-Ni/GNs composite containing trace amounts of Ni species by the aid of self-etching or acid-etching process. Its component structure and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy(ICP-AES) and Raman spectra, etc. The obvious cracked Pt-Ni nanoclusters can be found in Pt-Ni (trace)/GNs which contains only trace Ni species. Electrochemical experiments indicate that Pt-Ni (trace)/GNs exhibits bi-functional electrocatalytic performance for MOR and ORR with the mass activity of 1009.98 mA mg^-1 and 157.7 mA mg^-1, respectively, which is superior to commercial Pt-Ru/C-JM. It is proven that the trace Ni species contribute to the enhanced electrocatalytic performance of the Pt-Ni/GNs composite.

Keywords: Electrocatalysis; Methanol oxidation; Nickel; Oxygen reduction; Platinum.