Electrochemical Manufacturing of Graphene and Its Decoration with Nano Pt-Sn Alloy for Ethanol Oxidation in DEFCS

We report a PtSn/graphene catalyst for the ethanol oxidation in acidic media. Graphene is synthesized from graphite electrodes using ionic liquid-assisted electrochemical exfoliation. Graphene-supported Pt Sn electrocatalyst is then reduced by ethylene glycol with as a stabilizing agent to prepare highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles on carbon graphene to use as ethanol oxidation in direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) catalysts. X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscopy technique are used to investigate the crystallite size and the surface morphologies respectively. The electrochemical characteristics of the PtSn/graphene , Pt/graphene and Sn/graphene catalysts are investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in nitrogen saturated sulfuric acid aqueous solutions and in mixed sulfuric acid and ethanol aqueous solutions. The catalytic activities of the PtSn/graphene , Pt/graphene and Sn/ grapheme electrodes for ethanol oxidation is 900 A g-1 Pt and 605 and 0 A g-1 Pt, which can be revealed the particular properties of the exfoliated graphene supports and PtSn alloy. Furthermore, PtSn/graphene exhibited a better sensitivity, signal-to-noise ratio, and stability than commercial Pt/graphene.

DEFC, Synergism, Platinuim Alloy Nanoparticles