Nanocatalysts for Ethanol Oxidation: Synthesis and Characterisation

Carbon-supported binary PtSn/C and ternary PtSnNi/C catalysts were prepared for the electro-oxidation of ethanol. The carbon-supported nanoparticles were synthesised by employing a modified polyol methodology and characterised in terms of structure, morphology and composition by using XRD, EDX and TEM techniques. Their electrocatalytic behaviour for ethanol oxidation (EO) was investigated by employing a disccomposite electrode covered by a thin layer of catalyst imbedded in a Nafion polymer electrolyte film. An enhancement of the EO through a negative shift of the onset oxidation potential and higher current density at constant potentials were observed on the PtSnNi/C electrodes as compared to those for PtSn/C electrodes. The temperature was changed in the range 40 oC ≤ t ≤ 80 oC, and the variation of the activation energy calculated by linear regression of the Arrhenius plots.