Glycerol electro-oxidation over glassy-carbon-supported Au nanoparticles: direct influence of the carbon support on the electrode catalytic activity

Glycerol is at present abundantly co-produced in the biodiesel fabrication and can be used as fuel in Direct Glycerol Fuel Cells (DGFC) for cogeneration of electricity, value-added chemicals and heat. With this motivation, in the present work, we investigated at a fundamental level the oxidation of glycerol over glassy carbon (GC) supported Au nanoparticles in alkaline medium using cyclic voltammetry. By controlling the Au deposition time, we varied the GC supported Au coverage from 0.4% to 30% maintaining a regular particle size distribution with a mean particle size of about 200 nm. An influence of the carbon support on the activity of the GC-supported Au nanoparticles was evidenced. Results from studies on the oxidation of glycerol and ethylene glycol on Au and Pt nanoparticles supported on a glassy carbon, highly ordered pyrolytic graphite and dimensionally stable anode under different pH conditions indicate that the carbon support participates actively in the oxidation of glycerol and other alcohols. We propose that active oxygenated species are gradually formed on the glassy carbon by potential cycling (up to the saturation of the carbon area) and these oxygenated species are additional oxygen suppliers for the oxidation of glycerol residues adsorbed on the Au particles, following a mechanism consisting of the synergism of two active elements: gold and carbon.