Pt nanoparticles supported on NiTiO3/C as electrocatalyst towards high performance Methanol Oxidation Reaction

Pt nanoparticles supported on NiTiO₃/C has been synthesized by a wet chemical method, using the corresponding metal precursors and citric acid as a complexing reagent. The nanocomposite has been characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) respectively. The electrocatalytic Methanol Oxidation Reaction (MOR) has been performed using Pt-NiTiO₃/C catalyst in both alkaline and acid medium. Analysis using cyclic voltammetry (CV), steady state polarization (SSP), and chronoamperometry (CA) techniques clearly demonstrate that Pt-NiTiO₃/C catalyst exhibits higher performance in methanol oxidation in alkaline medium compared to acid medium. The results demonstrate that NiTiO₃ has significant promotion effect on the electrocatalytic activity and stability for the methanol electro-oxidation. The enhanced activity is attributed to the ability of NiTiO₃ to promote CO_ads oxidation through strong interaction with Pt (which is in close proximity to NiTiO₃). Pt-NiTiO₃/C appears to be a promising anode catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells.