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The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol in acid electrolyte: preparation and characterization of noble metal electrocatalysts supported on pre-treated carbon-fibre papers

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Abstract

The electrocatalytic aspects of direct oxidation of methanol in acid electrolyte in relation to fuel cell applications is briefly reviewed. The reaction requires noble metal catalysts (in particular platinum) in large quantities (several mg cm−2 of electrode area) to produce steady state current densities of commercial interest. Initial activities are about 104 times greater than steady state values, thus the problem in methanol electro-oxidation is to stabilize the initial activity.

The approaches generally taken are to develop methods of dispersing platinum more effectively, e.g. by depositing the metal on a conducting support, or to modify the properties of platinum by alloying it with a second component. The latter approach can have the effect of simply isolating platinum atoms from each other, thus limiting the size of the platinum clusters, or of electronically modifying the properties of platinum by virtue of the ligand effect of the second component in the alloy.

We have developed platinum and platinum-ruthenium catalysts supported on specially treated carbon-fibre paper which have substantially higher steady state activities than conventional catalysts. The method of preparation involves an ion-exchange procedure whereby noble metal cations become chemically bound to acidic surface oxide groups on the pre-oxidized carbon-paper surface. This produces platinum with increased surface area and high specific activity. It is proposed that the highly active form of platinum is involved in an interaction with the carbon support leading to improved performance. This modified form of platinum has been shown by cyclic voltammetry to have different characteristics of hydrogen adsorption/desorption and platinum oxide reduction from those of unsupported and conventionally supported platinum.

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Attwood, P.A., McNicol, B.D. & Short, R.T. The electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol in acid electrolyte: preparation and characterization of noble metal electrocatalysts supported on pre-treated carbon-fibre papers. J Appl Electrochem 10, 213–222 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00726088

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