Facial synthesis of porous hematite supported Pt catalyst and its photo enhanced electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation performance

• A porous α-Fe2O3 supported Pt catalyst has been synthesized for the first time.
• With the addition of α-Fe2O3, the current density of Pt/C grows about 51% under illumination and 32% in the dark compared with unsupported catalyst.
• The current increases under illuminationin chronoamperometric experiments at a given potential of 0.7 V due to the photons from light provide energy for CO stripping.
• This work demostrates an optical strategy to accelerate electrode reactions towards ethanol oxidation reaction.

The porous α-Fe2O3 supported Pt catalyst is synthesized by a facial thermal treatment assisted precipitation method. The particle size of Pt is less than 3 nm. The pore diameters of α-Fe2O3 particles are concentrated to 2.46 nm in a mesooporous scale. Its electrochemical performance is tested. The ethanol oxidation current of the Pt/Fe2O3 catalsyt obviously improves under illumination, compared with that in the dark, during the optical switching operation. Moreover, with the addition of α-Fe2O3, the ethanol oxidation current of Pt/C grows about 51% under illumination and 32% in the dark; the onset potential shifts negtively for about 20 mV. This work demostrates an optical strategy which can be a potential alternative to accelerate electrode reactions towards ethanol oxidation reaction.

Graphical AbstractA porous α-Fe2O3 supported Pt catalyst has been synthesized by a facial thermal treatment assisted precipitation method and the materials show a illumination enhanced performance for ethanol oxidation.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide