Platinum Supported on a Hybrid of Nickel and Tungsten Carbide on New‐Diamond Electrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation and Oxygen Reduction Reactions

Abstract

A hybrid of nickel and tungsten carbide on new‐diamond (Ni‐WC/nD) was synthesized by a microwave‐assisted method, in which nickel(tungsten) hydroxide was deposited on carbon black and then reduced carbothermally under N2 atmosphere. Pt nanoparticles (NPs) were deposited on the hybrid to form the Pt/Ni‐WC/nD electrocatalyst. XRD and TEM were used to investigate the structure and morphology of Pt/Ni‐WC/nD, respectively. The results revealed that Ni and WC particles formed on carbon black during the reduction of nickel(tungsten) hydroxide at 1300 °C under N2, and the amorphous carbon was translated to new‐diamond as a result of the catalysis of Ni. The Pt NPs deposited on Ni‐WC/nD exhibited a good affinity with the support. We demonstrated that Pt/Ni‐WC/nD was an active electrocatalyst for the methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) and the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Pt/Ni‐WC/nD exhibited a better electrocatalytic activity and durability than Pt/C electrocatalyst for the MOR and ORR. This can be attributed to the strong interaction between the Ni‐WC/nD support and Pt and the excellent stability of the new‐diamond.

Inorganic non-carbon supported Pt catalysts and synergetic effects for oxygen reduction reaction

“…Wang et al synthesized new-diamond phase WC catalyzed by Ni at a high temperature, and Ni–WC was formed with the Ni–WC bond. 294 The Pt nanoparticles were anchored on Ni–WC due to the favorable interaction of Pt with WC and Ni, and the high stability of the new-diamond phase, which also promoted the ORR activity. As for another structure, Yates et al highlighted the effects of oxygen adsorption on the surface of Pt as a shell of the hcp WC cores, which reduced oxygen adsorption energy to promote and maintain the ORR activity.…”

Recent developments of nanocarbon based supports for PEMFCs electrocatalysts

“…Many WC-modified nanocarbons (WC-C and W2C) have been prepared by different methods and applied in electrocatalysis [174,184,185], as summarized in Table 7. The preparation methods of WC-C can be generally divided into in situ and post-treatment methods [177,[186][187][188][189]. In the former case, ammonium metatungstate (AMT) or phosphotungstic acid (PTA) is adopted as the tungsten precursor and glucose or resorcinol-formaldehyde polymer as the carbon source.…”