Cross-beam pulsed laser fabrication of Free-Standing Nanostructured Carbon Nanotubes-Pt-Ceria Anode with unprecedented electroactivity and durability for ethanol oxidation

Owing to its inherent properties such as great capacity to store and release oxygen, lattice oxygen that has a key role in removing the CO poisoning effect, non-toxicity, abundance, low cost and low temperature processing, CeO sub(2) is emerging as a unique class of electrode material for low temperature polymer electrolyte fuel cells such as direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs). However, the maximal exploitation of its functional properties is strictly reliant on the availability of optimized synthesis routes that allow tailor-designing, architecturing and manipulation of CeO sub(2) in a precise manner when it is combined with other functional materials. Here we use the cross-beam pulsed laser deposition (CBPLD) technique to synthesize free-standing (binderless) Pt-CeO sub(2) nanostructured thin films onto carbon nanotubes as anodes for ethanol oxidation reaction. Further significance of this work is that it establishes the importance in the design of the catalyst layer architecture. Indeed, we demonstrate here that when CeO sub(2) material is beneath or when it is mixed with Pt, the interactions between Pt with CeO sub(2) are not similar leading inevitably to different electrocatalytic performances. Given proper tailoring synthesis conditions, CBPLD developed Pt-CeO sub(2) thin films are remarkably stable and provide electrochemical performance much greater than the layer onto layer CeO sub(2)/Pt architecture.