Self-Limiting Growth of Two-Dimensional Palladium between Graphene Oxide Layers.

The ability of different materials to display self-limiting growth has recently attracted an enormous amount of attention because of the importance of nanoscale materials in applications for catalysis, energy conversion, (opto)electronics, and so forth. Here, we show that the electrochemical deposition of palladium (Pd) between graphene oxide (GO) sheets result in the self-limiting growth of 5-nm-thick Pd nanosheets. The self-limiting growth is found to be a consequence of the strong interaction of Pd with the confining GO sheets, which results in the bulk growth of Pd being energetically unfavorable for larger thicknesses.

Effects of heat treatment atmosphere on the structure and activity of PtSn nanoparticle electrocatalysts: a characterisation case study.

Comprehensive identification of the phases and atomic configurations of bimetallic nanoparticle catalysts are critical in understanding structure-property relationships in catalysis. However, control of the structure, whilst retaining the same composition, is challenging. Here, the same carbon supported Pt3Sn catalyst is annealed under air, Ar and H2 resulting in variation of the extent of alloying of the two components.

Effect of Mass Transport on the Electrochemical Oxidation of Alcohols Over Electrodeposited Film and Carbon-Supported Pt Electrodes.

Electrochemical oxidation of four different alcohol molecules (methanol, ethanol, -butanol and 2-butanol) at electrodeposited Pt film and carbon-supported Pt catalyst film electrodes, as well as the effect of mass transport on the oxidation reaction, has been studied systematically using the rotating disk electrode (RDE) technique. It was shown that oxidation current decreased with an increase in the rotation rate (ω) for all alcohols studied over electrodeposited Pt film electrodes. In contrast, the oxidation current was found to increase with an increase in the ω for Pt/C in ethanol and -butanol-containing solutions.

Biobutanol as Fuel for Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells-Investigation of Sn-Modified Pt Catalyst for Butanol Electro-oxidation.

Direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) mostly use low molecular weight alcohols such as methanol and ethanol as fuels. However, short-chain alcohol molecules have a relative high membrane crossover rate in DAFCs and a low energy density. Long chain alcohols such as butanol have a higher energy density, as well as a lower membrane crossover rate compared to methanol and ethanol.