title: Ternary Pt9RhFexNanoscale Alloys as Highly Efficient Catalysts with Enhanced Activity and Excellent CO-Poisoning Tolerance for Ethanol Oxidation.
abstract: To address the problems of high cost and poor stability of anode catalysts in direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs), ternary nanoparticles Pt9RhFex(x = 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) supported on carbon powders (XC-72R) have been synthesized via a facile method involving reduction by sodium borohydride followed by thermal annealing in N2at ambient pressure. The catalysts are physically characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and their catalytic performance for the ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is evaluated by cyclic and linear scan voltammetry, CO-stripping voltammograms, and chronopotentiometry. All the Pt9RhFex/C catalysts of different atomic ratios produce high EOR catalytic activity. The catalyst of atomic ratio composition 9:1:3 (Pt/Rh/Fe) has the highest activity and excellent CO-poisoning tolerance. Moreover, the enhanced EOR catalytic activity on Pt9RhFe3/C when compared to Pt9Rh/C, Pt3Fe/C, and Pt/C clearly demonstrates the presence of Fe improves catalytic performance. Notably, the onset potential for CO oxidation on Pt9RhFe3/C (0.271 V) is ∼55, 75, and 191 mV more negative than on Pt9Rh/C (0.326 V), Pt3Fe/C (0.346 V), and Pt/C (0.462 V), respectively, which implies the presence of Fe atoms dramatically improves CO-poisoning tolerance. Meanwhile, compared to the commercial PtRu/C catalyst, the peak potential on Pt9RhFe3/C for CO oxidation was just slightly changed after several thousand cycles, which shows high stability against the potential cycling. The possible mechanism by which Fe and Rh atoms facilitate the observed enhanced performance is also considered herein, and we conclude Pt9RhFe3/C offers a promising anode catalyst for direct ethanol fuel cells.
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.|State Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-ferrous Metal and Featured Materials, Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Shibin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: School of Computer, Electronics and Information, Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Ningzhang
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Key
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Shuangbao
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Energy Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Renewable Energy Materials (CICREM), Guangxi University , Nanning 530004, China.
authors.forename: Pei Kang
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6244-5978
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Shen
keywords: CO-poisoning tolerance; Pt9RhFex alloys; anode catalysts; ethanol oxidation; ternary nanoparticles