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Ru-doped Ta2O5 supported Pt nanoparticles: an efficient electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation

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Abstract

In this work, Ru-doped Ta2O5 was firstly synthesized as support for Pt nanoparticles by calcination and chemical precipitation. The prepared Pt/Ru-Ta2O5 catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). These characterization methods confirm that Pt nanoparticles were successfully supported on Ru-doped Ta2O5 (Ru-Ta2O5). The TEM reveals that Pt nanoparticles with an average diameter of ca. 4.0 ± 0.5 nm were uniformly distributed on the Ru-Ta2O5. The further electrochemical characterizations including cyclic voltammograms (CV), chronoamperometry (CA), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods show that Pt/Ru-Ta2O5 catalysts have larger electrochemical surface area, better electrocatalytic activity, and higher stability toward the methanol oxidation reaction compared to the pure Ta2O5 supported Pt catalysts. The excellent electrocatalytic performance is mainly contributed to the improvement of Ru for the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles, the increased conductivity of Ta2O5, as well as the promotion of oxidation reactivity by Ru. This work demonstrated that Ru-Ta2O5 is a promising anode catalyst support for direct methanol fuel cells.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by NSFC (21303134) and Outstanding Youth Science Fund of Xi’an University of Science and Technology (2018YQ2-13).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xi’an University of Science & Technology, Xi’an, 710054, People’s Republic of China

    Bohua Wu, Haiting Wang, Changqing Wu, Fengxiao Du, Jia Chu, Xiaoqin Wang & Shanxin Xiong

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  1. Bohua Wu
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Wu, B., Wang, H., Wu, C. et al. Ru-doped Ta2O5 supported Pt nanoparticles: an efficient electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation. Ionics 27, 4361–4369 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04206-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04206-7

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