Oxidation of ethanol on platinum nanoparticles: surface structure and aggregation effects in alkaline medium

Abstract

The ethanol oxidation reaction in 0.1 M NaOH on Pt nanoparticles with different shapes and loadings was investigated using electrochemical and spectroscopic techniques. The surface structure effect on this reaction was studied using well-characterized platinum nanoparticles. Regardless of the type of Pt nanoparticles used, results show that acetate is the main product with negligible CO2 formation. From the different samples used, the nanoparticles with a large amount (111) of ordered domains have higher peak currents and a higher onset potential, in agreement with previous works with single crystal electrodes. In addition, spherical platinum nanoparticles supported on carbon with different loadings were used for studying possible diffusional problems of ethanol to the catalyst surface. The activity in these samples diminishes with the increase of Pt loading, due to diffusional problems of ethanol throughout the whole Pt nanoparticle layer, being the internal part of the catalyst layer inactive for the oxidation. To avoid this problem and prepare more dispersed nanoparticle catalyst layers, deposits were dried while the carbon support was rotated to favor the dispersion of the layer around the support. The improvement in the electrocatalytic activity for ethanol oxidation confirms the better performance of this procedure for depositing and drying.