Activation of commercial Pt/C catalyst toward glucose electro-oxidation by irreversible Bi adsorption

The effect of irreversibly adsorbed Bi on commercial Pt/C catalyst toward glucose electro-oxidation reaction（GOR）in different electrolytes（acidic,neutral,alkaline）is studied.Bi is successfully deposited on Pt/C from Bi;containing acidic solution from 0 to 90%coverage degree.The stability of the Bi layer in acid and alkaline corresponded to previous studies and started to dissolve at 0.7 V and 0.8 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode（RHE）,respectively.However,in neutral phosphate buffer the layer showed remarkable stability to at least 1.2 V versus RHE.Bi modification at low（20%）and high（80%）coverage showed the highest increase in the activity of Pt/C toward GOR by a factor up to 7 due to the increased poisoning resistance of the modified catalyst.The effect of poisoning was especially reduced at high Bi coverage（80%）,which shows that adsorbate blocked by Bi through the third-body effect is effective.Finally,with or without Bi modification GOR on Pt/C was most active in alkaline conditions.