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Honeycomb like copper‐cobalt nanostructures and their synergy with carbon supports for electrooxidation of carbinol
Author(s) -
Sesu Divya C.,
Swami Anita,
Kakade Bhalchandra
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.6231
Subject(s) - materials science , bimetallic strip , chemical engineering , graphene , composite number , dielectric spectroscopy , copper , specific surface area , oxide , graphite , methanol , spinel , cobalt , cobalt oxide , electrochemistry , catalysis , composite material , nanotechnology , electrode , metallurgy , chemistry , metal , organic chemistry , engineering
Summary Fabricating the significant electrocatalysts with enriched activity and stability is necessary due to the increasing demands of the fuel cell industries for its commercialization. This report provides a widespread impact on fabrication of a suitable and significant porous bimetallic nanocatalyst for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). Here, we have developed nanofoams of Cu‐Co alloys/oxides with varied carbon supports using simple combustion method, where graphite oxide (GO) shows synergistic “catalyst‐support” effect than other substrates. The morphological studies reveal a honeycomb‐like structure with dense porous nature of Cu‐Co nanofoam (CuCo@rGO). X‐ray diffraction and spectroscopic studies reveal the formation of spinel structure of CuCo 2 O 4 with active {110} facets in case of CuCo@rGO, exhibiting higher methanol electrooxidation activity of 198 mA/cm 2 , which is found to be improved than that of the previous reports. The optimized composition, CuCo@rGO shows the slow decrease in the current in chronoamperometric studies with 40% retention of its activity even after 10 hours. The CoCu@rGO nanofoam shows improved Brunauer‐Emmett‐Teller surface area of ~50 m 2 /g due to the addition of GO. In addition, the composite shows an excellent electrochemical surface area value of 7.75 m 2 /g over other compositions of different carbon supports. The intrinsic effect of better conductivity of Co75Cu25@rGO has also been confirmed using impedance spectroscopy. The porous honeycomb structure of Co75Cu25@rGO composite synergistically impacts methanol oxidation and also forbids the formation of CO intermediate, maintaining the activity.