Addition of iron oxide to Pt-based catalyst to enhance the catalytic activity of ethanol electrooxidation

- Pt3Sn/Fe2O3-C nanocatalysts provide a good catalytic activity for ethanol oxidation.
- We presented a low cost and interesting strategy for catalyst preparation for DAFC.
- The Eonset shifted 200 mV toward lower values for Pt3Sn/Fe2O3-C nanocatalysts.

Iron oxide is largely used as catalyst in many industrial processes such as the synthesis of ammonia, the conversion of carbon monoxide into carbon dioxide, and the dehydrogenation of different organic substrates. For this reason and based on previous results obtained with iron as co-catalyst for the electrooxidation of ethanol, we have investigated how iron oxide as support for Pt-based catalysts affects the oxidation of this alcohol. For this purpose, we deposited Pt and PtSn over iron oxide-C and compared the catalytic activity of these materials with the catalytic activity of Pt/C and PtSn/C. Iron oxide-C, mainly in the form of γ-Fe2O3-C, was obtained by thermal decomposition of polymeric precursors, which was followed by deposition of Pt and PtSn on the γ-Fe2O3-C substrate by the microwave-assisted method. γ-Fe2O3-C positively affected the activity of Pt/C and PtSn/C in the electrooxidation of ethanol. Therefore, the addition of γ-Fe2O3-C improves the activity of the well-known catalyst Pt3Sn in the oxidation of ethanol

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