Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

Aiming at a better electrocatalytic enhancement of ethylene glycol (EG) electrooxidation (EGO) in an alkaline medium for EG fuel cells (EGFCs), a MnOx/Pt anode was developed. A sequential layer-by-layer electrodeposition technique was employed to assemble first platinum nanoparticles (nano-Pt) directly onto the surface of a glassy carbon (GC) electrode then manganese oxide nanoparticles (nano-MnOx) were next immobilized. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were employed to evaluate the surface morphology and the bulk composition of the proposed catalyst in addition to the relative ratio of the catalyst’s ingredients. On the other hand, the catalyst was characterized electrochemically using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. The results manifested the superiority of the developed MnOx/Pt/GC catalyst for enhancing EGO while the degree of enhancement depended on the loading level of the catalyst components and the acidity (pH) of the EG-containing electrolyte. The best electrocatalytic enhancement towards EGO was achieved at MnOx/Pt/GC electrode with nano-Pt = 3.8 μg and nano-MnOx, θ = 52 %, in 0.5 M NaOH solution (pH= 11.5) containing 0.5 M EG. Under these conditions, an increase in the oxidation peak current, Ip (1.7 times) along with a negative shift in the onset potential, Eonset (ca. 120 mV) of EGO was obtained in reference to the Pt/GC electrode. The developed catalyst exhibited a reasonable catalytic stability upon subjecting for a continuous potential cycling.

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