Abstract
•Electrodeposition of nanostructured PtCo and PtNi onto a coated GCE with a nanostructured NiCo alloy at room temperature.•PtCo/NiCo/GCE and the PtNi/NiCo/GCE catalysts display an improved electrocatalytic behavior for the MOR.•PtCo/NiCo/GCE catalyst shows coral particles of reef-shaped under SEM and PtNi/NiCo/GCE catalyst star-shaped particles.•The electrocatalytic performance of the electrodeposited catalysts was verified via CA and CV.•The stability and the corrosion resistance tests of the PtNi/Ni-Co/GCE and PtCo/Ni-Co/GCE systems were examined.
Novel composite catalysts of nanostructured PtCo and PtNi alloys onto a coated glassy carbon electrode (GCE) with a nanostructured alloy of NiCo as a substrate material were fabricated by an electrodeposition method from their salt solutions at ambient temperature. The PtCo/NiCo/GCE and the PtNi/NiCo/GCE catalysts display an improved electrocatalytic behavior for the electrochemical oxidation reaction of methanol (MOR). The morphology, chemical composition, and phase structure for the electrodeposited catalysts were checked utilizing a scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, respectively. PtCo/NiCo/GCE catalyst shows coral particles of reef-shaped morphology, whilst the PtNi/NiCo/GCE catalyst star-shaped particles. The electrocatalytic performance of the electrodeposited catalysts was verified using chronoamperometry and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The effects of the type of electrodeposition method, pH of the solution, temperature, and precursors concentration on the characteristics of the PtCo and PtNi alloys electrodeposits and accordingly on the electrocatalytic peculiarities of the catalysts were well assessed. Furthermore, the impact of methanol concentration and temperature on MOR was discussed. The stability and the corrosion resistance tests of the PtNi/Ni-Co/GCE and PtCo/Ni-Co/GCE systems were evaluated via the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Tafel polarization, and potentiostatic methods.
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