Effect of Acid Treatment on Electrocatalytic Performance of PtNi Catalyst

In this paper,we describe the synthesis of the AC-PtNi/G catalysts with graphene as the carrier,via the alcohol reduction and the sulfuric acid treatment.The prepared catalysts were microscopically characterized by X-ray diffractometry(XRD),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),electron spectroscopy(EDAX),and transmission electron micros-copy(TEM).We tested the electrochemical performance of the prepared catalysts using an electrochemical workstation and in situ infrared spectroscopy(FTIR).The results showed that the acid-treated AC-PtNi/G catalysts had a more uniform dispersion and with the increased of treatment time,the particle size of the catalyst became smaller.And the electrocatalytic performance of the AC-PtNi/G-48h catalyst treated with sulfuric acid for 48 h was significantly better than that of the untreated PtNi/G catalyst.Its electrochemically active surface area was 76.63 m^(2)/g,and the peak current density value for catalytic oxidation of ethanol was 1218.83 A/g,which was 10 times that of ordinary commercial Pt/C catalyst.The steady-state current density value of 1100 s was 358.77 A/g,and it has excellent anti-CO toxicity performance.It was determined that a sulfuric acid treatment controlled catalyst particle size and increased the electrocatalytic activity of the catalytic oxidation of ethanol.