Glycerol Electrooxidation on Phosphorus‐Doped Pt‐αNi(OH)2/C Catalysts.

This work investigates the electrooxidation of glycerol in an alkaline environment at non‐doped and P‐doped Pt‐αNi(OH)2 nanoparticles supported on oxidized Vulcan XC‐72R carbon. Pt‐αNi(OH)2 and PtP‐αNi(OH)2 particles with sizes in the range of 3–5 nm were obtained via a one‐step chemical reduction approach. The physicochemical characteristics of the as‐prepared catalysts were studied by inductively coupled plasma‐optical emission spectrometry (ICP‐OES), energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and x‐ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. It was determined that the incorporation of phosphorus lead to the formation of amorphous PtP‐αNi(OH)2 deposits. TEM analysis showed that the incorporation of phosphorus into the bimetallic Pt‐αNi(OH)2 catalyst origins a remarkable reduction in the average size of the nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution. A substantial improvement in the electrocatalytic properties of the Pt‐αNi(OH)2 system toward the oxidation of glycerol was observed through P doping. The P‐doped electrocatalysts developed a mass current density of 60.3 mA mgPt−1 at 765 mV vs. RHE, which is about 5 and 45 times higher than those of commercial PtRu/C (12.3 mA mgPt−1) and as‐synthesized Pt‐αNi(OH)2/C (1.5 mA mgPt−1), respectively. The temperature‐dependent experiments displayed that the apparent activation energy for the reaction is halved upon the addition of phosphorus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]