Enhanced Electrochemical Properties of Surface Roughed Pt Nanowire Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation

• Use of surface roughed Pt nanowires as electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation.
• Surface roughness has a significant effect on the electrochemical property.
• Better activity and stability were achieved by using surface roughed Pt nanowires.
• EIS measurements showed faster electrons transfer by surface roughed Pt nanowires with larger grains.

Surface roughed platinum (Pt) nanowires,which have been synthesized by a galvanostatic electrodeposition method in a nanoporous template, were applied as electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction. The experimental results showed that the surface roughness of the Pt nanowires (correspondingly the surface morphology and grain size) has a dramatic effect on their catalytic property. From cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometric measurements, the surface roughed Pt nanowires presented better activity (109.5 mA mg-1) and higher stability for methanol oxidation than the surface smooth Pt nanowires. From the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, the surface roughed Pt nanowires showed higher electrical conductivity and more efficient electrochemical performance than the surface smooth nanowires. The experimental results indicated that both the increased surface area and larger crystal grain size of the surface roughed nanowires contributed to improved catalytic performance. The surface roughed Pt nanowires showed great promise in many important applications such as catalysis and fuel cells.

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