Enhanced electrocatalytic performance of hydroxyl‑grafted PProDOT:PSS/YRFC/Pt composites for direct alcohol fuel cells

It is important to select an appropriate supporting matrix, which can probably improve the electro-catalytic activity of Pt and reduce the Pt loading. In this paper, a composite (PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS/YRFC/Pt) comprising hydroxyl‑grafted poly(3,4-propylenedioxy thiophene):polystyrene sulfonate(PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS), resorcinol-formaldehyde yolk-shell carbon sphere (YRFC) and Pt nanoparticles is fabricated as electrocatalyst for methanol and ethanol electrooxidation . The PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS is uniformly coated on the YRFC, which enhances the conjugation degree of polymer and the dispersion of Pt nanoparticles to facilitate the mass transfer during catalytic reactions . PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS/YRFC/Pt has a larger electrochemical active surface area (61.02 m 2 g −1 ) than commercial 20 wt% Pt/C (17.1 m 2 g −1 ), which is resulted from anchoring sites of S atom in PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS/YRFC. The composite displays excellent electrochemical performance for ethanol and methanol oxidation with the mass activity of 1077 mA mgPt −1 and 689 mA mgPt −1 , respectively. The composite had satisfactory anti CO tolerance from the contribution of the high conductivity of PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS and YRFC. The composite also exhibits favorable cyclic stability, due to noncovalent bonding between constituents and the yolk-shell structure. These results indicate that PProDOT-2MeOH:PSS/YRFC/Pt is a promising catalyst for direct fuel cell applications .