Cr2O3-carbon composite as a new support material for efficient methanol electrooxidation

Abstract

Graphitic carbon material encasing chromium oxide nanoribbons [Cr2O3-C composite] is obtained by carbonizing a mixture of furfuryl alcohol and Cr-BDC MOF [BDC: benzene dicarboxylic acid; Cr3F(H2O)2O[(O2C)C6H4-(CO2)]3·nH2O] at 900 °C under inert atmosphere. The Ni-Pd nanoparticles synthesized by NaBH4 reduction method are loaded on the Cr2O3-C support via sonication. Morphological, structural, and chemical analysis of the designed chromia based carbon support and synthesized nanoparticles is carried out with PXRD, EDX, SEM, HR-TEM and BET surface area. The gas adsorption analyses reveal that BET surface area of Cr2O3-C support decreases from 438 m2 g-1 to 171 m2 g-1 by the incorporation Ni-Pd nanoparticles. The electro-oxidation reaction of methanol is carried out over the designed electrocatalysts in acidic media. The Ni-Pd nanoparticles supported on Cr2O3-C have presented a significant increase in catalytic activity for methanol oxidation and tolerance in comparison to the nanoparticles supported on activated carbon and glassy carbon electrode.