Platinum Reduction Study on Pt/C Electro-catalysts for PEMFC
Platinum reduction on Pt/C catalysts was studied on samples prepared by the impregnation method using different Pt precursors and reducing agents such as ethanol, sodium borohydride and ethanol-UV light (photo-assisted reduction), in order to compare the efficiency of the different reducing agents. The influence of the reduction level of the platinum species on the electrochemical behavior of these catalysts has been determined. The catalysts were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and linear and cyclic voltammetry. The results show that the reduction level depends mainly on the platinum precursor. Moreover, it was found that the higher electrochemical activity was found using catalysts reduced with ethanol, whereas by using NaBH4 as the reducing agent, the total reduction of the platinum precursor is very difficult in same synthesis conditions. The analysis of the XPS results shows that samples reduced with ethanol presented the lower PtOx/Pt reduction ratio.