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Morphological transformation of electrodeposited Pt and its electrocatalytic activity towards direct formic acid fuel cells

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Abstract

Engineering the shape and size of platinum catalysts is crucial in determining fuel cell performance. In this study, Pt electrodeposited on carbon black-coated carbon paper at three different potentials (viz. 0.2, 0, and −0.2 vs. SHE) was evaluated for its performance in direct formic acid fuel cells (DFAFCs). The electrodeposited catalysts were analysed using SEM, XRD, and electrochemical techniques. The shape of the electrodeposited Pt transformed from globular (0.2 V) to dendritic (0 V) and to rosette-like (−0.2 V) structure by increasing the deposition potential in the cathodic direction. The change in shape could be due to the variation in the accompanying hydrogen evolution with the deposition potential in acidic electrolyte. The dendritic structure of Pt deposited at 0 V showed a higher electrochemical surface area and enhanced catalytic activity towards formic acid oxidation than the other two shapes. To study the performance of electrocatalysts in DFAFC, the anode catalyst was prepared in a new approach of layer-by-layer electrodeposition on carbon to maximize the triple phase boundary. The layered dendritic Pt generated a maximum power density of 42 mW cm−2, comparable with the commercial Pt/C catalyst (46 mW cm−2) at 70 °C for 3 M formic acid.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras for the financial support. We acknowledge Department of Science and Technology, DST-FIST for providing the instrumentation facility to the Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT Madras.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India

    Volga Muthukumar & Raghuram Chetty

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  1. Volga Muthukumar
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Correspondence to Raghuram Chetty.

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Muthukumar, V., Chetty, R. Morphological transformation of electrodeposited Pt and its electrocatalytic activity towards direct formic acid fuel cells. J Appl Electrochem 47, 735–745 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10800-017-1076-z

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