title: Observable Electrochemical Oxidation of Carbon Promoted by Platinum Nanoparticles.
abstract: The radical degradation of Pt-based catalysts toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), predominantly caused by the oxidation of carbon supports, heavily blocks the commercialization of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). As reported, the electrochemical oxidation of carbon could be accelerated by Pt catalysts; however, hitherto no direct evidence is present for the promotion of Pt catalysts. Herein, a unique ultrathin carbon layer (approximately 2.9 nm in thickness) covered Pt catalyst (Pt/C-GC) is designed and synthesized by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. This magnifies the catalysis effect of Pt to carbon oxidation due to the greatly increased contact sites between the metal-support, making it easy to investigate the carbon oxidation process by observing the thinning of the carbon layer on Pt nanoparticles from TEM observations. Undoubtedly, this finding can better guide the structural design of the durable metal catalysts for PEMFCs and other applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Zongkui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Kou
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Ronghui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Beibei
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology , Wuhan 430070, China.
authors.forename: Shichun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mu
keywords: carbon; electrochemical oxidation; metal catalyst; observation; stability