Research on a novel Ni-doped TiN modified N-doped CNTs supported Pt catalysts and their synergistic effect for methanol electrooxidation

Abstract A novel Ni-doped TiN modified N-doped CNTs hybrid nanotubes (N-CNTs@TiNiN) is constructed and serves as hybrid support for the platinum (Pt) catalyst. We prepare the N-CNTs@TiNiN support by a solvothermal process followed by a nitriding process. It is used as anodic catalyst support to test methanol electrooxidation. By contrast, the current density of Pt/N-CNTs (0.34 A mgpt −1 ) is nearly 1.31 times more than Pt/CNTs (0.26 A mgpt −1 ) while Pt/TiNiN (0.56 A mgpt −1 ) is almost 1.33 times as much as Pt/TiN (0.42 A mgpt −1 ). What's more, among all the catalysts investigated in this work, the novel Pt/N-CNTs@TiNiN (0.86 A mgpt −1 ) shows the highest reactivity for methanol oxidation, which is also much more active and durable than the commercial JM Pt/C catalyst, showing only slight activity variation even after 12 000 potential cycles. The synthetic Pt/N-CNTs@TiNiN catalyst is researched on its electrocatalytic performance toward methanol electrooxidation and the high activity and durability might be mainly attributed to the electron transfer due to the synergistic effect of the robust TiNiN NPs and N-CNTs by inducing both co-catalytic and electronic effects.