Influence of the synthesis procedures on pt catalyst activity for ethanol electrooxidation reaction

Abstract

Carbon supported platinum catalysts for ethanol electrooxidation were synthesized by modified polyol synthesis method, assisted by microwave or reflux heating. Synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, STM and TGA techniques to determine their structural and morphological properties. STM and XRD investigations revealed small particle size (~3nm), while TGA showed Pt loading of 20% in both samples. Electrocatalytic activity of prepared catalysts was examined by potentiodynamic measurements and compared to commercial Pt catalyst (Pt/C-Tanaka). The highest activity for ethanol electrooxidation was observed with Pt catalyst prepared by microwave irradiation. The increase in activity can be assigned to the benefits of microwave assisted synthesis, such as small particle size and homogeneous particle distribution on the support.

Keywords

• pt catalysts
• polyol synthesis
• ethanol electrooxidation
• microwave irradiation
• reflux