Anchoring bimetallic PtAu nanoparticles on hierarchical zeolite as efficient electrocatalyst for the enhancement of ethanol electrooxidation

Zeolite materials as nanoreactor are promising candidates as catalysts for the oxidation of alcohol fuels. In the present work, the hierarchical zeolite was prepared via a hydrothermal technique. Then, the bimetallic Pt-Auzeolite composite as electrocatalysts were synthesized by co-precipitation route. The surface morphology, composition and structure of the resulting composite were investigated by FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, XPS, BET&BJH and FT-IR. The catalytic performance of the composite has been examined in ethanol electrooxidation reactions under alkaline media. Pt-Au-zeolite exhibits superior selectivity for the electrooxidation of the ethanol, outperforming both conventional Au and Pt nanoparticles supported on zeolite crystals catalyst. The peak electrooxidation current of ethanol with Pt-Au-zeolite catalyst is 3.63 times that of Pt-zeolite with a scan rate of 50 mVs(-1), which is due to the synergistic effect of Au and Pt in zeolite framework. It could be attributed to the incorporation of Au and Pt into zeolite framework, which was beneficial to the charge transferring the surface of Pt-Au-zeolite electrocatalyst and facilitated the ethanol oxidation. Besides, the significant electrochemical activity can be due to the production of OH-, which leads to the species present on the surface of the electrocatalysts during the activation process that controlled by the zeolite framework.