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Carbon‐Supported Rh 17 S 15 ‐Rh Electrocatalysts Applied in the Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Author(s) -
Ji Jing,
Lv Shaowei,
Liu Haijing,
Wang Feng,
Li Zhilin,
Liu Jingjun,
Song Ye,
Ja Yi
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
electroanalysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.574
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1521-4109
pISSN - 1040-0397
DOI - 10.1002/elan.201400069
Subject(s) - electrocatalyst , catalysis , chemistry , rhodium , cyclic voltammetry , carbon fibers , inorganic chemistry , rotating disk electrode , carbon black , electrochemistry , sulfide , nuclear chemistry , materials science , electrode , composite number , organic chemistry , natural rubber , composite material
Rh 17 S 15 ‐Rh catalysts supported on acid‐treated carbon black were prepared from RhCl 3 by a facile method using sulfur source ((NH 4 ) 2 S 2 O 3 ) and reducing agent (NaBH 4 ), followed by an additional thermal treatment at 650 °C in argon. The prepared catalyst comprised an Rh 17 S 15 single crystalline phase and a zero‐valent metal (Rh) phase supported on a conductive carbon. By XRD characterization, the constituent ratio of Rh 17 S 15 to Rh in the electrocatalysts, ranging from 51–95 %, varied with the increase of amount of (NH 4 ) 2 S 2 O 3 or NaBH 4 . Morphologies of the resulting catalysts were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) technique. Most of particles were found to have a distribution of agglomerates ranging in size from 10 to 50 nm. In studying the effect of the constituent phases of chalcogenide electrocatalysts on oxygen reduction reaction activity, it is paramount to understand and optimize the structure sensitivity of the reaction, which will aid in determining the optimal ratio of Rh 17 S 15 to Rh of the electrocatalyst. Activity and stability of the prepared catalysts were addressed using a series of cyclic voltammetry (CV) experiments in 1 M HCl electrolyte, in which the electrocatalyst of 95 % of Rh 17 S 15 was found to be the most stable. The rotating disk electrode (RDE) experiment indicated the sulfide catalyst with 82 % of Rh 17 S 15 showed the better performance for the ORR, which was discussed based on the compromise between the stability for the constituent phase of Rh 17 S 15 in 1 M HCl and enhanced activity found for Rh phase.