Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, College of Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju 561-756, South Korea.
Nanoscale Res Lett. 2014 Jan 3;9(1):2. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-9-2.
In this study, Co/Cu-decorated carbon nanofibers are introduced as novel electrocatalyst for methanol oxidation. The introduced nanofibers have been prepared based on graphitization of poly(vinyl alcohol) which has high carbon content compared to many polymer precursors for carbon nanofiber synthesis. Typically, calcination in argon atmosphere of electrospun nanofibers composed of cobalt acetate tetrahydrate, copper acetate monohydrate, and poly(vinyl alcohol) leads to form carbon nanofibers decorated by CoCu nanoparticles. The graphitization of the poly(vinyl alcohol) has been enhanced due to presence of cobalt which acts as effective catalyst. The physicochemical characterization affirmed that the metallic nanoparticles are sheathed by thin crystalline graphite layer. Investigation of the electrocatalytic activity of the introduced nanofibers toward methanol oxidation indicates good performance, as the corresponding onset potential was small compared to many reported materials; 310 mV (vs. Ag/AgCl electrode) and a current density of 12 mA/cm2 was obtained. Moreover, due to the graphite shield, good stability was observed. Overall, the introduced study opens new avenue for cheap and stable transition metals-based nanostructures as non-precious catalysts for fuel cell applications.
在这项研究中，我们引入了 Co/Cu 修饰的碳纳米纤维作为甲醇氧化的新型电催化剂。所引入的纳米纤维是基于高碳含量的聚乙烯醇（与许多用于合成碳纳米纤维的聚合物前体相比）进行石墨化制备的。通常，由四水合乙酸钴、一水合乙酸铜和聚乙烯醇组成的电纺纳米纤维在氩气气氛中煅烧会导致 CoCu 纳米颗粒修饰的碳纳米纤维形成。由于钴的存在，增强了聚乙烯醇的石墨化，钴作为有效的催化剂。物理化学特性证实了金属纳米颗粒被薄的结晶石墨层包裹。对所引入的纳米纤维对甲醇氧化的电催化活性的研究表明，其性能良好，因为与许多报道的材料相比，其起始电位较小；获得的起始电位为 310 mV（相对于 Ag/AgCl 电极），电流密度为 12 mA/cm2。此外，由于石墨的屏蔽作用，观察到了良好的稳定性。总的来说，这项研究为廉价且稳定的基于过渡金属的纳米结构作为燃料电池应用的非贵金属催化剂开辟了新的途径。
