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The Influence of Pt Surface Area on the Photo‐Enhancement of the Methanol Oxidation Reaction
Author(s) -
Odetola Christopher,
Trevani Lilia.,
Easton E. Bradley
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201700934
Subject(s) - methanol , catalysis , irradiation , photochemistry , chemistry , redox , photocatalysis , inorganic chemistry , materials science , organic chemistry , physics , nuclear physics
The methanol oxidation reaction (MOR) on both Pt/TiO 2 /C and Pt/C‐based electrodes can be photo‐enhanced by illuminating the electrodes with UV light. This fact has called into question the role of TiO 2 in the photo‐enhancement of MOR when Pt is present. To examine this further, we have studied the change in the photo‐enhancement of methanol electro‐oxidation with Pt surface area. For each catalyst, there was greater MOR activity in the presence of UV‐irradiation. However, upon potential cycling, there was a faster decline in MOR activity in the presence of UV‐irradiation compared to the MOR activity in the dark. A linear relation between the decay in methanol oxidation current with the decay in Pt surface area for both catalysts was observed. This strongly suggests that irradiation enhances the methanol oxidation process on the Pt surface. When TiO 2 is present, it has a synergetic electronic effect that further enhances the oxidation process on the Pt surface.