Fabrication of La-doped TiO2 Film Electrode and investigation of its electrocatalytic activity for furfural reduction

• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2014.11.203
• Publication Date: 2014-12-03T04:24:13Z
• Authors: Fengwu Wang; Mai Xu; Lin Wei; Yijun Wei; Yunhu Hu; Wenyan Fang; Chuan Gao Zhu
• Keywords: Lanthanum; Bulk electrolysis

Abstract Lanthanum trivalent ions (La 3+ ) doped nano-TiO 2 film electrode was prepared by the sol–gel method. The prepared electrode was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The electrocatalytic properties of the roughened TiO 2 film electrode towards the electrocatalytic reduction of furfural to furfural alcohol were evaluated by CV and preparative electrolysis experiments. The results of the optimum molar ratio of La: Ti was 0.005:1. Experimental evidence was presented that the La nano-TiO 2 electrode exhibited higher electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of furfural than the undoped nano-TiO 2 electrode in N,N-dimethylformamide medium. Bulk electrolysis studies were also carried out for the reduction of furfural and the product was confirmed by NMR.