Pt Nanoparticles on Carbon Nanodots-Titania Composite for Enhanced Electro Oxidation of Alcohol Fuels

The severe corrosion of carbon supports in harsh fuel cell conditions has attracted the development of ceramic-based catalyst supports. Platinum nanoparticles supported on the carbon nanodots (CNDs)-titania (TiO2) composite were synthesized in three steps: Firstly, an inorganic support, titania (TiO2) was synthesized by a hydrolysis method. Secondly, the (CNDs-titania) nanocomposite support was prepared by sonicating pre-synthesized carbon nanodots (CNDs) and TiO2 in equal volumes of ethylene glycol/water solution. Lastly, nanosized Pt particles were deposited onto the CNDs-titania composite by a polyol method to form a platinum/(CNDs-titania nanocatalyst. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscope (TEM), and X-ray difractommetry (XRD) were used to study surface morphology of the synthesized materials. Platinum loading onto the (CNDs-titania) composite support was quantified by ICP-OES. The electrooxidation of alcohol fuels was investigated in acidic electrolytes using chronoamperometric and voltammetric techniques. It was noted that the addition of TiO2 increases electroactivity of the nanocatalysts. The platinum/(CNDs-titania) nanocatalyst exhibited superior electroactivity during methanol and ethanol electrooxidation compared to the platinum/CNDs and Pt/C benchmark standards. Chronoamperometry (CA) curves showed that the platinum/(CNDs-titania) nanocatalyst exhibited outstanding anti-poisoning properties relative to the platinum/CNDs and commercial Pt/C nanocatalysts.