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Nanocrystalline tungstic carbide/graphitic carbon composite: synthesis, characterization, and its application as an effective Pt catalyst support for methanol oxidation

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Abstract

Tungsten carbide and graphitic carbon (WC/GC) composite has been synthesized by a simple solid-state pyrolysis method from an in situ route. The results indicate that the synthesized sample has a large specific surface area (S BET) of 198 m2 g−1, and the WC nanoparticles (NPs) with a narrow particle size are well dispersed on the graphitic carbon. After loading Pt nanoparticles, the prepared Pt/WC/GC catalyst exhibits a mass activity of 416.1 mA mg−1 Pt toward methanol electrooxidation, which is much higher than that of commercial Pt/C (JM) (231.2 mA mg−1 Pt). Moreover, the onset potential is 100 mV more negative than that on Pt/C (JM) electrocatalyst. In addition, the Pt/WC/GC catalyst has stronger resistance to CO poisoning than the commercial Pt/C (JM). Its superior electrochemical performance could be attributed not only to the synergistic effect between Pt and WC NPs but also to the excellent electrical conductivity of GC and proper porous structure for desirable mass transportation in a porous electrode.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of this research by the Key Program Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21031001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91122018, 21101060, 20971040, 91122018, 21201058, and 21001042), the Cultivation Fund of the Key Scientific and Technical Innovation Project, Ministry of Education of China (No. 708029), and Special Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (No. 20112301110002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Liming Jiang & Honggang Fu

  2. Key Laboratory of Functional Inorganic Material Chemistry, Heilongjiang University, Harbin, 150080, People’s Republic of China

    Liming Jiang, Honggang Fu, Lei Wang, Guang Mu, Baojiang Jiang, Wei Zhou & Ruihong Wang

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  1. Liming Jiang
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  2. Honggang Fu
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  3. Lei Wang
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  4. Guang Mu
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  6. Wei Zhou
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  7. Ruihong Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Honggang Fu.

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Jiang, L., Fu, H., Wang, L. et al. Nanocrystalline tungstic carbide/graphitic carbon composite: synthesis, characterization, and its application as an effective Pt catalyst support for methanol oxidation. J Solid State Electrochem 18, 2225–2232 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-014-2456-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-014-2456-5

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