Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Yan, Shaohui
• Gao, Lizhen
• Zhang, Shichao
• Gao, LiLi
• Zhang, Weike
• Li, Yuzhen

Titel

Investigation of AuNi/C anode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells

Ist Teil von

• International journal of hydrogen energy, 2013-09, Vol.38 (29), p.12838-12846

Ort / Verlag

Kidlington: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• AuNi nanoparticles supported on the activated carbon (AuNi/C) are synthesized by the impregnation method in the ethyleneglycol system using NH2NH2·H2O as a reducing agent. The alloying of Au and Ni and the removal of unalloyed Ni in the AuNi/C composition are achieved by heat and acid treatments in sequence. Research results reveal that the average size and alloying degree of the AuNi nanoparticles in the AuNi/C catalyst increase with the enhancement of the annealing temperature. However, the Ni content of the AuNi/C catalyst firstly goes up and then down with the rising of heat treatment temperature due to the AuNi system phase-separates. Moreover, the electrocatalytic activity normalized by the electrochemically active surface area of each AuNi/C catalyst is far better than that of the Au/C catalyst, because of the bifunctional mechanism and the electrocatalytic activity of the NiOOH. In particular, the AuNi/C catalyst annealed at 400 °C exhibits the most excellent activity, due to its small AuNi particles and proper alloying degree. Furthermore, its mass-specific electrochemical activity is higher than that of the Au/C catalyst, although the mean diameter of the AuNi nanoparticles in this catalyst is larger than that of the Au nanoparticles. •AuNi/C catalyst is synthesized by the impregnation method in the glycol system.•The AuNi system phase-separations are detected in the nano scale.•The Ni content in catalyst first goes up and then down with the annealing temperature.•AuNi/C catalyst has a better activity than Au/C catalyst for the methanol oxidation.