Characterization of hierarchical α-MoO3plates toward resistive heating synthesis: electrochemical activity of α-MoO3/Pt modified electrode toward methanol oxidation at neutral pH.
The growth of MoO3hierarchical plates was obtained by direct resistive heating of molybdenum foils at ambient pressure in the absence of any catalysts and templates. Plates synthesized after 60 min resistive heating typically grow in an single-crystalline orthorhombic structure that develop preferentially in the [001] direction, and are characterized by high resolution transmission electron microscopy, selected area diffraction pattern and Raman-scattering measurements. They are about 100-200 nm in thickness and a few tens of micrometers in length. As heating time proceeds to 80 min, plates of α-MoO3form a branched structure. A more attentive look shows that primary plates formed at until 60 min could serve as substrates for the subsequent growth of secondary belts. Moreover, a full electrochemical characterization of α-MoO3plates on platinum electrodes was done by cyclic voltammetric experiments, at pH 7 in phosphate buffer, to probe the activity of the proposed composite material as anode to methanol electro-oxidation. Reported results indicate that Pt MoO3modified electrodes are appropriate to develop new an amperometric non-enzymatic sensor for methanol as well as to make anodes suitable to be used in direct methanol fuel cells working at neutral pH.
Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università del Salento, Lecce I-73100, Italy.
Emanuela
E
Filippo
Francesca
F
Baldassarre
Marco
M
Tepore
Maria Rachele
MR
Guascito
Daniela
D
Chirizzi
Antonio
A
Tepore