Electro-catalytic activity of multiwall carbon nanotube-metal (Pt or Pd) nanohybrid materials synthesized using microwave-induced reactions and their possible use in fuel cells

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-30-2012

Abstract

Microwave induced reactions for immobilizing platinum and palladium nanoparticles on multiwall carbon nanotubes are presented. The resulting hybrid materials were used as catalysts for direct methanol, ethanol and formic acid oxidation in acidic as well as alkaline media. The electrodes are formed by simply mixing the hybrids with graphite paste, thus using a relatively small quantity of the precious metal. We report Tafel slopes and apparent activation energies at different potentials and temperatures. Ethanol electro-oxidation with the palladium hybrid showed an activation energy of 7.64 kJ mol -1 which is lower than those observed for other systems. This system is economically attractive because Pd is significantly less expensive than Pt and ethanol is fast evolving as a commercial biofuel. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifier

84865577285 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Electrochimica Acta

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2012.07.098

ISSN

00134686

First Page

40

Last Page

46

Volume

83

Grant

RC2 ES018810

Fund Ref

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

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