The electrochemical oxidation of small organic molecules (SOMs) is a key electrochemical process and has broad technological applications in fuel cells, sensors, and catalysis. In light of these challenges, there is a widespread effort to design precious metal electrocatalysts and their supports at the nanoscale leading to increases in catalytic activity toward the oxidation of SOMs such as methanol, ethanol, and glucose. In recent work, we focus on employing solution-based methods to produce hierarchical, structures including metal oxide supports and Pt-based alloy catalysts with tunable structure, size, and composition. A wide range of methods including electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are employed to characterize the structural and electronic properties of the as-synthesized catalysts. The hierarchical structure of these catalysts leads to significant enhancements in the onset potential, mass activity, sensitivity, limit of detection, and long-term stability of SOM oxidation and detection compared with commercially available carbon supported Pt and Pt-alloy nanoparticles. The mechanism of SOM oxidation, including the oxidation of key intermediates such as carbon monoxide and formic acid is examined as a function of the structure of the active sites at the catalytic interface.

Electrochemical oxidation and detection of small organic molecules with Pt-based nanowire catalysts

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.