| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1285646 | Journal of Power Sources | 2016 | 11 Pages |
•Ag/titanate and Ag/titanate-CNT are fabricated using deposition-photo-irradiation process.•Ag/titanate exhibited the highest performance towards MOR.•Strong metal–support interactions exist between Ag particles and titanate support.•The enhancement was due to the high surface area and the modified electron structure.•Electrocatalytic enhancement for Ag/titanate is mainly via bifunctional mechanism.
Titanate-SWCNT; synthesized via exploiting the interaction between TiO2 anatase with oxygen functionalized SWCNT, supported Ag nanoparticles and Ag/titanate are characterized using XRD, TEM-EDX-SAED, N2 adsorption, Photoluminescence, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy. These samples are tested for methanol electrooxidation via using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and impedance measurements. It is shown that Ag/titanate nanotubes exhibited superior electrocatalytic performance for methanol oxidation (4.2 mA cm−2) than titanate-SWCNT, Ag/titanate-SWCNT and titanate. This study reveals the existence of a strong metal-support interaction in Ag/titanate as explored via formation of Ti–O–Ag bond at 896 cm−1 and increasing surface area and pore volume (103 m2 g−1, 0.21 cm3 g−1) compared to Ag/titanate-SWCNT (71 m2 g−1, 0.175 cm3 g−1) that suffers perturbation and defects following incorporation of SWCNT and Ag. Embedding Ag preferably in SWCNT rather than titanate in Ag/titanate-SWCNT disturbs the electron transfer compared to Ag/titanate. Charge transfer resistance depicted from Nyquist impedance plots is found in the order of titanate > Ag/titanate-SWCNT > titanate-SWCNT > Ag/titanate. Accordingly, Ag/titanate indicates a slower current degradation over time compared to rest of catalysts. Conductivity measurements indicate that it follows the order Ag/titanate > Ag/titanate-SWCNT > titanate > titanate-SWCNT declaring that SWCNT affects seriously the conductivity of Ag(titanate) due to perturbations caused in titanate and sinking of electrons committed by Ago through SWCNT.
Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide
