Tuning of platinum nano-particles by Au usage in their binary alloy for direct ethanol fuel cell: Controlled synthesis, electrode kinetics and mechanistic interpretation

•Pt nano-particles by Au usage on optimized composition show immense potentiality in accelerating EOR kinetics.•Optimization of Au covering on Pt, supported by XPS analysis.•High increased in the peak power density on Au covering Pt alloy for DE(AEM)FC.•Favorable charge distribution between Au and Pt improved CO oxidation within the FC potential range.

Understanding of the electrode-kinetics and mechanism of ethanol oxidation reaction (EOR) is of considerable interest for optimizing electro-catalysis in direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC). This work attempts to design Pt based electro-catalyst on carbon support, tuned with gold nano-particles (NPs), for their use in DEFC operating in alkaline medium. The platinum–gold alloyed NPs are synthesized at desired compositions and size (2–10 nm) by controlled borohydride reduction method and successfully characterized by XRD, TEM, EDS and XPS techniques. The kinetic parameters along with the activation energies for the EOR are evaluated over the temperature range 20–80 °C and the oxidation reaction products estimated through ion chromatographic analysis. Compared to single Pt/C catalyst, the over potential of EOR is reduced by ca. 500 mV, at the onset during the reaction, for PtAu/C alloy with only 23% Pt content demonstrating the ability of Au and/or its surface oxides providing oxygen species at much lower potentials compared to Pt. Furthermore, a considerable increase in the peak power density (>191%) is observed in an in-house fabricated direct ethanol anion exchange membrane fuel cell, DE(AEM)FC using the best performing Au covered Pt electrode (23% Pt) compared to the monometallic Pt catalyst.

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