Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 Electrocatalysts for Oxidizing Ethanol to CO2
Abstract
Ethanol, with its high energy density, likely production from renewable sources and ease of storage and transportation, is almost the ideal combustible for fuel cells wherein its chemical energy can be converted directly into electrical energy. However, commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells has been impeded by ethanol's slow, inefficient oxidation even at the best electrocatalysts. We synthesized a ternary PtRhSnO{sub 2}/C electrocatalyst by depositing platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles that is capable of oxidizing ethanol with high efficiency and holds great promise for resolving the impediments to developing practical direct ethanol fuel cells. This electrocatalyst effectively splits the C-C bond in ethanol at room temperature in acid solutions, facilitating its oxidation at low potentials to CO{sub 2}, which has not been achieved with existing catalysts. Our experiments and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electrocatalyst's activity is due to the specific property of each of its constituents, induced by their interactions. These findings help explain the high activity of Pt-Ru for methanol oxidation and the lack of it for ethanol oxidation, and point to the way to accomplishing the C-C bond splitting in other catalytic processes.
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE SC OFFICE OF SCIENCE (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1040168
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-90475-2009-JA
KC0302040; TRN: US201210%%351
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-98CH10886
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal Name:
- Nature Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 8; Journal Issue: 4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 10 SYNTHETIC FUELS; 30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; ATOMS; CATALYSTS; COMMERCIALIZATION; DIRECT ETHANOL FUEL CELLS; EFFICIENCY; ELECTROCATALYSTS; ENERGY DENSITY; ETHANOL; FUEL CELLS; FUNCTIONALS; METHANOL; OXIDATION; PLATINUM; PRODUCTION; RHODIUM; STORAGE
Citation Formats
Adzic, R R, Kowal, A, Li, M, Shao, M, Sasaki, K, Vukmirovic, M B, Zhang, J, Marinkovic, N.S. Liu, P., and Frenkel, A I. Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 Electrocatalysts for Oxidizing Ethanol to CO2. United States: N. p., 2009.
Web.
Adzic, R R, Kowal, A, Li, M, Shao, M, Sasaki, K, Vukmirovic, M B, Zhang, J, Marinkovic, N.S. Liu, P., & Frenkel, A I. Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 Electrocatalysts for Oxidizing Ethanol to CO2. United States.
Adzic, R R, Kowal, A, Li, M, Shao, M, Sasaki, K, Vukmirovic, M B, Zhang, J, Marinkovic, N.S. Liu, P., and Frenkel, A I. 2009.
"Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 Electrocatalysts for Oxidizing Ethanol to CO2". United States.
@article{osti_1040168,
title = {Ternary Pt/Rh/SnO2 Electrocatalysts for Oxidizing Ethanol to CO2},
author = {Adzic, R R and Kowal, A and Li, M and Shao, M and Sasaki, K and Vukmirovic, M B and Zhang, J and Marinkovic, N.S. Liu, P. and Frenkel, A I},
abstractNote = {Ethanol, with its high energy density, likely production from renewable sources and ease of storage and transportation, is almost the ideal combustible for fuel cells wherein its chemical energy can be converted directly into electrical energy. However, commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells has been impeded by ethanol's slow, inefficient oxidation even at the best electrocatalysts. We synthesized a ternary PtRhSnO{sub 2}/C electrocatalyst by depositing platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles that is capable of oxidizing ethanol with high efficiency and holds great promise for resolving the impediments to developing practical direct ethanol fuel cells. This electrocatalyst effectively splits the C-C bond in ethanol at room temperature in acid solutions, facilitating its oxidation at low potentials to CO{sub 2}, which has not been achieved with existing catalysts. Our experiments and density functional theory calculations indicate that the electrocatalyst's activity is due to the specific property of each of its constituents, induced by their interactions. These findings help explain the high activity of Pt-Ru for methanol oxidation and the lack of it for ethanol oxidation, and point to the way to accomplishing the C-C bond splitting in other catalytic processes.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1040168},
journal = {Nature Materials},
number = 4,
volume = 8,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009},
month = {Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2009}
}