Glycerol Oxidation over the Pt-Cerium Oxide/Porous Polyaniline Catalyst

A novel Pt-cerium oxide/porous polyaniline (Pt-CeO2 /porous PANT) electrode material as advanced electrocatalysts for glycerol catalytic oxidation was developed by combining the merits of Pt, CeO2, and porous PANI. The as-prepared nanomaterials were characterized by BET, XRD, SEM, FTIR as well as electrochemical test. The characterization results indicated that as-fabricated Pt-CeO2/porous PANI nanocomposite had obvious pore structure and larger surface area relative to corresponding materials. The cyclic voltammetry results showed that the Pt-CeO2/porous PANI modified electrode exhibits higher electrocatalytic activity toward glycerol oxidation than other Pt-based composites and commercial Pt/C (20 wt%) catalysts. Moreover, the results of electrochemical impedance characteristics and chronoamperograms showed that the Pt-CeO2 /porous PANI possessed smaller Rct value and good anti-toxicity. The enhanced electrocatalytic performance of the Pt-CeO2/porous PANI may be due to the synergistic effects among three elements and the crisscross channel brought from porous PANI, which can provide short diffusion paths for electroactive species and high-availability of electrocatalysts. Therefore, it can be considered as a promising strategy to design low-cost, high-performance electrocatalysts for fuel cells. (C) 2018 The Electrochemical Society.