Glycerol electrooxidation on Pd, Pt and Au nanoparticles supported on carbon ceramic electrode in alkaline media

In the present study, electrooxidation of glycerol was investigated on Au, Pd and Pt nanoparticles modified carbon ceramic electrode (CCE) by using different electrochemical techniques such as: Cyclic voltammetry (CV), Chronoamperometry (CA), Chronopotentiometry (CP) and Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were also employed to physicochemical survey of the electrocatalysts. The kinetic parameters of glycerol oxidation, i.e. Tafel slope and activation energy (E-a), were determined on the modified electrodes. The Tafel slopes of 166 mV dec(-1) on Pt vertical bar CCE, 177 mV dec(-1) on Au vertical bar CCE and 136 mV dec(-1) on Pd vertical bar CCE were obtained. The lowest E-a value of 11.2 kJ mol(-1) was calculated on Au vertical bar CCE. In continuation, the reaction orders with respect to the glycerol and NaOH concentrations on Pd vertical bar CCE were found to be 0.27 and 0.87, respectively. The CV, CP and CA results showed remarkable electrocatalytic activity and good poisoning tolerance of Au vertical bar CCE for glycerol oxidation. Copyright (c) 2012, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.