TiO2 nanolayer coated carbon as Pt support for enhanced methanol oxidation reaction

Abstract

To facilitate the large-scale application of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), the issue of low Pt/C durability due to Pt degradation and carbon corrosion in harsh DMFC operating conditions must be addressed. A promising strategy is to hybridize metal oxides with carbon materials, resulting in a durable and conductive support that exhibits a strong metal-support interaction (SMSI) effect on platinum nanoparticles (Pt NPs). In this study, we introduced a TiO2 coating on carbon black, creating a TiO2 nanolayer between Pt and carbon black. The nanolayer not only protects the carbon black but also activates the SMSI effect on Pt. The resulting Pt/C@TiO2 electrocatalyst exhibits superior durability than commercial Pt/C. After the accelerated durability test, the mass activity loss of the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) of Pt/C@TiO2 (32%) is significantly lower than that of Pt/C (46.8%). Moreover, the MOR activity of Pt/C@TiO2 is higher than Pt/C as well. It suggests that Pt/C@TiO2 shows great potential as a highly durable and active electrocatalyst for DMFCs.