Glycerol Stabilized NaBH₄ Reduction for Preparation Carbon Supported Pt-Ni Alloy Nanoparticles Used as Oxygen-Reduction Electrocatalysts for Microbial Fuel Cells

摘要

The high cost and insufficient catalytic activity of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticle catalysts are twomain problems in the commercial deployment of microbial fuel cell (MFC). In an effort to addressthese barriers, three carbon-supported Pt-Ni alloy electrocatalysts with varying Pt:Ni atom ratios (Pt3- Ni/C, Pt2-Ni/C, Pt-Ni/C) were prepared by simple NaBH4 reduction in glycerol at room temperature.All of the prepared Pt-Ni alloy nanoparticles (NPs) are highly dispersed on a carbon support and showa single-phase face-centered cubic structure with a particle size of 2.4-3.0 nm. The electrocatalyticperformances of the synthesized Pt-Ni alloy catalysts were compared with that of commercial Pt/C bycyclic voltammetry and linear sweep voltammetry; among these NPs, the Pt2-Ni/C catalyst exhibits thehighest activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in 0.1M HClO4. As the cathode catalyst, the-2 maximum power density produced from MFC with Pt2-Ni/C (1724 mW m ) was 22% higher than that-2 with commercial Pt/C (1413 mW m ).