Microwave irradiated nickel nanoparticles on Vulcan XC-72R carbon black for methanol oxidation reaction in KOH solution
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Type
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Journal
Article
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Author
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R.
M. Abdel Hameed
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Author
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Rabab
M. El-Sherif
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Author
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Cairo University, Giza, Egypt Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science
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URL
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Volume
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162
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Pages
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217-226
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Publication
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Applied
Catalysis B: Environmental
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Date
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January
2015
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Abstract
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Researchers
fabricated Ni/C electrocatalysts using chemical deposition of nickel
nanoparticles on Vulcan XC-72R carbon black using microwave irradiation
technique. They varied the time of microwave irradiation during the reduction
step and nickel weight percentage. They observed this to affect the
morphology of formed Ni/C powder as shown by TEM analysis. Increasing nickel
weight percentage resulted in the formation of more aggregated deposits.
The electrocatalytic activity of various Ni/C samples towards methanol oxidation reaction in KOH solution was examined by applying cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic techniques. Ni/C electrocatalyst containing 30 wt.% Ni [Ni/C-30] exhibited 5.2 times higher electrocatalytic activity than that with 10 wt.% Ni [Ni/C-10]. Heating Ni/C powder into microwave oven using the pulse mode of 30 s on/10 s off formed the most stable electrocatalyst for prolonged oxidation reaction. Electrochemical impedance measurements revealed that Ni/C-30 electrocatalyst has the lowest impedance value of 0.022 kΩ cm2, while the highest one is for Ni/C-10 [0.331 kΩ cm2] in (0.4 M methanol + 0.5 M KOH) solution at 500 mV. It confirmed that Ni/C-30 has the highest electrocatalytic activity towards methanol oxidation reaction. |
