title: Tungsten carbide nanocrystal promoted Pt/C electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction.
abstract: Tungsten carbide nanocrystals on carbon (W2C/C) and tungsten carbide nanocrystals and Pt on carbon (Pt-W2C/C) composite electrocatalysts were prepared by the intermittent microwave heating (IMH) method and tested for the electroreduction of oxygen in the acidic media for the first time. The results revealed that the tungsten carbide nanocrystal promoted Pt/C electrocatalyst was very active for ORR with the onset potential of 1.0 V vs SHE at ambient temperature that is over 100 mV more positive compared with that of traditional Pt/C electrocatalyst. The kinetic parameters were determined. The exchange current densities at both high and low overpotential regions are two orders higher for ORR on Pt-W2C/C than that on Pt/C, showing a synergetic effect to improve the activity for ORR. The novel electrocatalysts show a poisoning resistant property toward methanol.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics and Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Pei Kang
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Shen