Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2012, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (01): 85-89.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201111153

• ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND NEW ENERGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Intermittent Microwave Heating on the Performance of Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction

YIN Shi-Bin1,2, LUO Lin1,2, JING Sheng-Yu3, ZHU Qiang-Qiang2, QIANG Ying-Huai2   

  1. 1. Low Carbon Energy Institute, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China;
    2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China;
    3. School of Information and Electrical Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China
  • Received:2011-10-09 Revised:2011-11-10 Published:2011-12-29
  • Contact: YIN Shi-Bin, QIANG Ying-Huai E-mail:shibinyin@126.com; yhqiang@cumt.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21106178), Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (20110491480), Scientific Research Foundation of Xuzhou, China (XJ11B009), Polysilicon and Photovoltaic Energy Technology of Xuzhou, China (6AT102092), Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing (Wuhan University of Technology) (2012-KF-13), and Scientific Research Foundation for Yong Teachers of the China University of Mining and Technology, China (2011QNA21, 2009A026).

Abstract: The influence of intermittent microwave heating (IMH) on the physicochemical and electrochemical properties of platinum loaded on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Pt/MWCNTs) was investigated. X-ray diffraction results revealed that the crystal size of Pt particles hardly increased for smaller numbers of pulse repetitions, but became much larger as the number of pulse repetitions increased. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE) results showed that the Pt/MWCNTs catalysts prepared by IMH in a repeated pulse form of 5s-on/5s-off for 20 pulse repetitions possessed the largest electrochemical surface area. An onset potential of approximately 1.0 V (vs RHE) was observed for the oxygen reduction reaction in oxygen-saturated 0.5 mol·L-1 H2SO4 aqueous solutions. The IMH method is simple, economical, and can potentially be scaled up for the mass production of nanomaterials.

Key words: Catalyst, Intermittent microwave heating method, Rotating disk electrode, Oxygen reduction reaction, Multi-walled carbon nanotube