Incorporation of Pt, Ru and Pt-Ru nanoparticles into ordered mesoporous carbons for efficient oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline media
By Marija Stojmenovi? and Milan Mom?ilovi? and Nemanja Gavrilov and Igor A. Pa
Published in Electrochimica Acta
2015
Abstract
Ordered mesoporous carbon, volume-doped up to 3 w.% with Pt, Ru and Pt-Ru nanoparticles was synthesized by evaporation-induced self-assembly method, under acidic conditions. The content of incorporated metal was determined by \EDX\ analysis. The X-ray diffractometry confirmed the existence of highly dispersed metallic phases in doped samples. Specific surface area was determined by N2-physisorption measurements to range between 452 and 545 m2 g?1. Raman spectroscopy of investigated materials indicated highly disordered carbon structure with crystallite sizes around 1.4 nm. In a form of thin-layer electrode on glassy carbon support, in 0.1 M \KOH\ solution, the prepared materials displayed high activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media, with onset potentials more positive than ?0.10 V vs. SCE. The kinetics of \O2\ reduction was found to be affected by both the specific surface area and the concentration of metal dopants. The ethanol tolerance of (Pt, Ru)-doped \OMCs\ was found to be higher than that of common Pt/C \ORR\ catalysts. Presented study provides a new route for the synthesis of active and selective \ORR\ catalysts in alkaline media, being competitive with, or superior to, the existing ones in terms of performance and price.