Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
6617230 Electrochimica Acta 2013 31 Pages PDF
Abstract
The activity of Pt catalysts dispersed on tungsten carbide (WC) prepared with a high surface area carbon with two different WC/C ratios is investigated for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline electrolyte. The electrochemical methods employed are cyclic voltammetry (CV) and steady-state polarization carried out on an ultrathin catalyst layer deposited on the disk of a rotating ring-disk electrode. The PtWC-based catalysts show higher activity for the ORR compared to Pt/C, also involving a transfer of 4 electrons per oxygen molecule. CV and X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) results for the PtWC-based materials indicate weaker Pt-OHx interaction in these materials, resulting in a lower Pt-oxide coverage and explaining the increased rate of the ORR, as compared to Pt/C.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Chemical Engineering Chemical Engineering (General)
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