Effect of Acid Treatment on Electrocatalytic Performance of PtNi Catalyst

In this paper, we describe the synthesis of the AC-PtNi/G catalysts with graphene as the carrier, via the alcohol reduction and the sulfuric acid treatment. The prepared catalysts were microscopically characterized by X-ray diffractometry(XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), electron spectroscopy(EDAX), and transmission electron micros-copy(TEM). We tested the electrochemical performance of the prepared catalysts using an electrochemical workstation and in situ infrared spectroscopy(FTIR). The results showed that the acid-treated AC-PtNi/G catalysts had a more uniform dispersion and with the increased of treatment time, the particle size of the catalyst became smaller. And the electrocatalytic performance of the AC-PtNi/G-48h catalyst treated with sulfuric acid for 48 h was significantly better than that of the untreated PtNi/G catalyst. Its electrochemically active surface area was 76.63 m2/g, and the peak current density value for catalytic oxidation of ethanol was 1218.83 A/g, which was 10 times that of ordinary commercial Pt/C catalyst. The steady-state current density value of 1100 s was 358.77 A/g, and it has excellent anti-CO toxicity performance. It was determined that a sulfuric acid treatment controlled catalyst particle size and increased the electrocatalytic activity of the catalytic oxidation of ethanol.