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Reduced nanostructured titanium oxide coating as an electrocatalyst support for methanol oxidation

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Abstract

In this work, Pt nanoparticles were deposited on chemically reduced TiO2 (R-TiO2) coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using a polyol method followed by a heat treatment. The R-TiO2 coating, in form of Ti2O3, was proved to be electroconductive and could be obtained from borohydride reduction and heat treatment at 400 °C. Pt particles were also loaded on bare CNTs by the same deposition method. These Pt nanoparticles on both supports exhibit similar size and specific electrochemical surfaces (ESAs). Instrumental analytical methods such as X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, as well as electrochemical techniques, supports the effectiveness of chemical reduction on TiO2. Although owning very close particle size and ESA, the Pt catalysts loaded on R-TiO2 exhibit double current density to the one of Pt/CNTs in methanol cyclic voltammetric and chronoamperometric test at 0.5 V versus Ag/AgCl. Our experimental results show that the introduction of a thin layer of R-TiO2 could drastically improve the Pt performance during methanol oxidation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank the financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Contract Number: 21373103) and Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation (No. BK2011260).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Jiangsu University of Technology, 1801 Zhongwu Ave, Changzhou, 213000, Jiangsu Province, China

    Yan Zhuang, Yuhai Liu, Zhigang Mou, Jianhua Sun & Mingyun Guan

  2. Gulf Interstate Engineering Inc., 16010 Barkers Point Lane, Suite 600, Houston, TX, 77079, USA

    Wei Ding

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  1. Yan Zhuang
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  2. Wei Ding
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  3. Yuhai Liu
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  4. Zhigang Mou
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Correspondence to Yan Zhuang.

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Zhuang, Y., Ding, W., Liu, Y. et al. Reduced nanostructured titanium oxide coating as an electrocatalyst support for methanol oxidation. J Mater Sci 50, 3875–3882 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8903-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8903-6

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