Effect of the Dendrimer Generation Used in the Synthesis of Pt-Ru Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanofibers on the Catalytic Activity towards Methanol Oxidation

Juan Carlos Calderón, Laura Calvillo, María Jesús Lázaro, José Luis Rodríguez and Elena Pastor
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Juan Carlos Calderón: Departamento de Química, Instituto de Materiales y Nanotecnología, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Laura Calvillo: Instituto de Carboquímica—CSIC, Miguel Luesma Castán 4, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
María Jesús Lázaro: Instituto de Carboquímica—CSIC, Miguel Luesma Castán 4, 50018 Zaragoza, Spain
José Luis Rodríguez: Departamento de Química, Instituto de Materiales y Nanotecnología, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain
Elena Pastor: Departamento de Química, Instituto de Materiales y Nanotecnología, Universidad de La Laguna, Avda. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, 38206 San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain

Energies, 2017, vol. 10, issue 2, 1-19

Abstract: Pt-Ru nanoparticles supported on carbon nanofibers (CNF) were synthesized by the sodium borohydride reduction method, using different generation dendrimers (zero, one, two and three generations). After the synthesis process, these materials were submitted to a heat treatment at 350 °C, in order to clean the nanoparticle surface of organic residues. TEM characterization showed that the Pt-Ru nanoparticles size ranged between 1.9 and 5.5 nm. The use of dendrimers did not totally avoid the formation of aggregates, although monodisperse sizes were observed. The heat treatment produces the desired surface cleaning, although promoted the formation of agglomerates and crystalline Ru oxides. The study of the electrochemical activity towards the methanol oxidation displayed some clues about the influence of both the dendrimer generation and the presence of Ru oxides. Moreover, the apparent activation energy E ap for this reaction was determined. The results showed a beneficial effect of the heat treatment on the methanol oxidation current densities for the materials synthesized with the biggest dendrimers, being the methanol deprotonation and CO ad diffusion the predominant rate determining steps ( rds ).

Keywords: Pt-Ru catalysts; carbon nanofibers; methanol electrochemical oxidation; dendrimers; fuel cells (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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