Electro-oxidation of ethanol and ethylene glycol on carbon-supported nano-Pt and -PtRu catalyst in acid solution

Present paper reports kinetics of electro-oxidation of ethanol (EtOH) and ethylene glycol (EG) onto Pt and PtRu nanocatalysts of different compositions in the temperature range of 298–318 K. These catalysts have been characterized by SEM, EDX, XRD, CV and amperometry. It has been observed that apparent activation energies for oxidation of EtOH and EG pass through a minimum at about 15–20 at.% of Ru in the PtRu alloy catalysts. Anodic peak current vs. composition curve also shows a maximum around this composition.The results have been explained by a geometric model, which proposes requirement of an ensemble of three Pt atoms with an adjacent Ru atom onto PtRu surface for an efficient electro-oxidation of EtOH or EG. This is further supported from statistical data analysis of probability of occurrence of such ensembles onto PtRu alloy surface.Present results also suggest that electro-oxidation of EG onto nano-PtRu catalyst surfaces follows a different path from that of EtOH at alloy composition less than 15 at.% of Ru.