ABSTRACT
The metal-support interaction offers electronic, compositional, and geometric effects that could enhance catalytic activity and stability. Herein, a high corrosion resistance and an excellent electrical conductivity MXene (Ti3C2Tx) hybrid with a carbon nanotube (CNT) composite material is developed as a support for Pt. Such a composite catalyst enhances durability and improved oxygen reduction reaction activity compared to the commercial Pt/C catalyst. The mass activity of Pt/CNT-MXene demonstrates a 3.4-fold improvement over that of Pt/C. The electrochemical surface area of Pt/CNT-Ti3C2Tx (1:1) catalysts shows only 6% drop with respect to that in Pt/C of 27% after 2000 cycle potential sweeping. Furthermore, the Pt/CNT-Ti3C2Tx (1:1) is used as a cathode catalyst for single cell and stack, and the maximum power density of the stack reaches 138 W. The structure distortion of the Pt cluster induced by MXene is disadvantageous to the desorption of O atoms. This issue can be solved by adding CNT on MXene to stabilize the Pt cluster. These remarkable catalytic performances could be attributed to the synergistic effect between Pt and CNT-Ti3C2Tx.
ABSTRACT
A key challenge in developing direct methanol fuel cells is the fabrication of electrocatalysts with high activity and long durability. Herein, we report a performance enhanced electrocatalyst of nanoscale Pd on MXene (Ti3C2Tx) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The mass activity of Pd/Ti3C2Tx-rGO (1: 1) hybrid toward methanol oxidation reaction is 753 mA mg-1, which is 1.7 times than that of Pd/C (446 mA mg-1). Additionally, the current density of Pd/Ti3C2Tx-rGO (1:1) catalyst contains 212 mAmg-1 which is nine times higher than that of Pd/C (23 mA mg-1) after 7200 s. The Pd/Ti3C2Tx-rGO (1:1) catalyst exhibits excellent cycling stability and long-term life. These remarkable catalytic performances are attributed to the role of Ti3C2Tx and rGO in enhancing the catalytic activity surface area and rapid mass/charge transfer due to the synergistic effect between Pd and Ti3C2Tx/rGO.
