Glycerol electrooxidation on carbon-supported Pt-CuO and PtCu-CuO catalysts

Herein, Pt and Pt0.85Cu0.15 nanoparticles were deposited over hybrid CuO/C supports (1.5, 3 and 5 wt.% on carbon) by a pulsed microwave-assisted reduction method and the as-prepared materials were evaluated as electrocatalysts toward the electrooxidation of glycerol in alkaline medium. The structural and morphological analysis showed that the platinum particles decrease from 4.2 nm to around 3.0 nm in size when the CuO crystallites are present on the surface of the carbonaceous material. The electrochemical experiments indicated that the nanoparticles deposited over the hybrid support present significantly improved electrocatalytic prop-erties compared to Pt/C. Among them, Pt0.85Cu0.15 CuO(3)/C catalyst exhibited the best performance for the GOR, delivering a mass activity of around 270 mA mg(Pt)(-1) at a fixed potential of 0.7 V, which is 5.4 times higher than that of Pt/C (similar to 50 mA mg(Pt)(-1)). The results showed that the addition of very small amounts of copper oxide on the surface of the carbonaceous support and the addition of a small amount of Cu to Pt boost the activity of the active sites via the bifunctional mechanism, geometric strain and ligand effects.