Title: | Highly Active and Durable Methanol Oxidation Electrocatalyst Based on the Synergy of Platinum-Nickel Hydroxide-Graphene |
Authors: | Wenjing Huang1, Hongtao Wang2, Jigang Zhou3, Jian Wang3, Paul N. Duchesne4, David Muir3, Peng Zhang4, Na Han1, Feipeng Zhao1, Min Zeng1, Jun Zhong1, Chuanhong Jin2, Yanguang Li1, Shuit-Tong Lee1, and Hongjie Dai5 |
Institutions: | 1Institute of Functional Nano and Soft Materials (FUNSOM), Soochow University, 199 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123, China 2State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China. 3Canadian LightSource Inc., Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada S7N 0X4. 4Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada NS B3H 4R2. 5Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA. |
Abstract: | Active and durable electrocatalysts for methanol oxidation reaction are of critical importance to the commercial viability of direct methanol fuel cell technology. Unfortunately, current methanol oxidation electrocatalysts fall far short of expectations and suffer from rapid activity degradation. Here we report platinum–nickel hydroxide–graphene ternary hybrids as a possible solution to this long-standing issue. The incorporation of highly defective nickel hydroxide nanostructures is believed to play the decisive role in promoting the dissociative adsorption of water molecules and subsequent oxidative removal of carbonaceous poison on neighbouring platinum sites. As a result, the ternary hybrids exhibit exceptional activity and durability towards efficient methanol oxidation reaction. Under periodic reactivations, the hybrids can endure at least 500,000 s with negligible activity loss, which is, to the best of our knowledge, two to three orders of magnitude longer than all available electrocatalysts. |
IF: | 11.470 |
Link: | http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151125/ncomms10035/pdf/ Editor: Danting Xiang |