Exceptional Activity of a Pt-Rh-Ni Ternary Nanostructured Catalyst for the Electrochemical Oxidation of Ethanol

Alloying Pt with highly oxophilic transition metals such as Rh, Ni, or Sn has been a promising strategy to modify the electrocatalytic surface properties of Pt in order to supply active oxygen-containing species for ethanol electrooxidation. A new, highly active, ternary single-phased fcc PtRhNi/C nanoparticle electrocatalyst for the electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol (EOR) is reported and its morphology (XRD and TEM), composition (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy), and electrochemical activity are discussed in comparison with the state-of-art PtRhSn/C electrocatalyst. The EOR activity of the PtRhNi/C material outperformed the benchmark PtRhSn/C material in acidic and alkaline media, showing high stability, especially in alkaline media. The higher intrinsic EOR activity of the Ni-containing electrocatalyst lends support to the notion that surface NiOx is an excellent oxygenate-supplying catalyst component for the oxidation of ethanol.