Electrooxidation of Methanol on Platinum–Ruthenium Catalysts Applied to a Cation-Exchange Membrane

Possibilities for production of active Pt–Ru electrodes for the direct methanol fuel cell with a decreased content of platinum-group metals in them are studied. Platinum and ruthenium are electrodeposited on a thin layer of carbon black applied to a Nafion 117 membrane. The deposition potential effect on the specific surface area of the catalyst and its electrochemical activity in the methanol oxidation is studied. The oxidation currents are related to unit true surface area or unit catalyst mass. The dependence of activity on the Pt : Ru ratio in the plating solution and in the deposit is studied. The effect of the catalyst amount deposited and the particle size on the activity is studied. It is shown that the catalytic activity decreases at the average diameter of Pt–Ru particles less than 4 nm. The results are compared with the size effects observed earlier.     

Temperature Effects on the Behavior of Lithium Iron Phosphate Electrodes

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - The systematic study of the effect of temperature (in the range from ?45 to +60°C) on the process of lithium extraction from LiFePO4 and its...     

Temperature Effect on the Behavior of a Lithium Titanate Electrode

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - The effect of temperature (over the–15 to +60°С range) on the insertion of lithium into Li4Ti5O12 is systematically studied. At a current of...     

Active Layer Thickness Effect on the Behavior of Electrodes Based on Lithium Iron Phosphate

Russian Journal of Electrochemistry - The effect of the active layer thickness (the amount of active material per unit area of the electrode) on the behavior of electrodes based on lithium iron...     

The carbon nanotubes-polyaniline composites and their effect on catalytic properties of deposited catalysts

Composites of functionalized single-wall carbon nanotubes and polyaniline are deposited onto electrodes by in situ electrochemical polymerization. Their electrochemical behavior and differential capacitance are studied by cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and chronovoltamperometry. The differential capacitance of the composite electrode exceeds that of pure polyaniline film deposited onto electrode, which can be explained by the nanotubes’ loosening effect on the polyaniline structure. The composite-electrode capacitance is as large as 1000 F g⁻¹ or higher. Thus obtained composite films were used as a support for deposited platinum-ruthenium catalyst. The Pt-Ru structure and catalytic properties in the methanol oxidation reaction are studied. It is shown that the specific current of methanol oxidation at Pt-Ru is larger by a factor of 7–15 than those measured when pure polyaniline, pure carbon nanotubes, or standard Vulcan XC-72 carbon black are used as supports. It is found that the catalytic activity is the same for all studied supports, provided the current is reduced to the unit of Pt-Ru true surface area. Thus, the observed large catalytic effect is associated with the structure and high dispersivity of the electrodeposited metals incorporated to the single-wall carbon nanotubes-polyaniline composite.     

Ultradisperse catalytic layers supported by nanotubes and poly(diallyldimethylammonium)chloride polymer

A catalytic system consisting of carbon nanotubes, poly(diallyldimethylammonium)chloride, and a very thin layer of platinum or platinum-ruthenium is assembled layer-by-layer (LbL) on a glassy carbon (GC) electrode. Deposits of platinum metals are studied by electrochemical methods, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Such catalyst layers are shown to exhibit much higher activity in the methanol oxidation reaction as compared with commercial and electroplated catalysts. The currents compared are calculated per the surface area of deposited metals determined with respect to hydrogen adsorption.