Improved direct electrooxidation of formic acid by increasing Au fraction on the surface of PtAu alloy catalyst with heat treatment

• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2011.08.002
• Publication Date: 2011-08-13T14:51:33Z
• Authors: Min Yin; Yunjie Huang; Qing Lv; Liang Liang; Jianhui Liao; Changpeng Liu; Wei Xing
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology; 7. Clean energy

Abstract The PtAu/C alloy catalyst is firstly synthesized by the co-reduction of both metal precursors under microwave conditions and then heat-treated to enable the migration of Au atoms to the exterior surface of the obtained PtAu/C catalyst. The bulk crystallite structures and the surface Au contents of PtAu/C catalysts are characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. The electrocatalytic activity and durability measurements exhibit the superior catalytic performance of PtAu/C catalysts over that of Pt/C catalyst on formic acid electrooxidation. Moreover, the initial and final activity after 3600 s reaction of the heat-treated PtAu/C alloy catalyst is two and five times as high as that of the untreated PtAu/C catalyst. The performance enhancement of the PtAu/C catalysts is discussed in terms of the electronic effect and ensemble effect.