Galvanic replacement of Pt nanowires on 3D-Ni Foam helped with Silica Template for methanol fuel cell

Generation of energy by clean, efficient and environmentally-friendly means is now one of the major challenges for engineers and scientists. Fuel cells convert chemical energy of a fuel directly into electrical work, and are efficient and environmentally clean, since no combustion is required. Moreover, fuel cells have the potential for development to a sufficient size for applications in commercial electricity generation [1] .In the presented work, modified nickel foam (NF) electrode was designed for using in direct methanol fuel cell. For this purpose, the commercial Ni foam was cut and connected with a metal wire as working electrode. The Ni foam electrode was cleaned first by the following procedure. The Ni foam was soaked and sonicated first in acetone for 15 minutes. After being cleaned in acetone, it was sonicated in deionized water for 15 minutes. Then, the electrode surface was modified with mesoporous silica as template for fabrication porous metal electrode. The silica mesoporous was formed by electro-assisted self-assembly (EASA) on the three dimensional Ni foam electrode .Pt nanowires was successfully placed on Ni foam support by employing the silica templates and then applied as an efficient catalyst. After silica removing, methanol electro-oxidation was investigated [2] .The physical properties of Pt nanowire/Ni foam modified electrode were characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The electrochemical properties of the catalysts were evaluated through electrochemical experiments. The electro-oxidation of methanol in 0.5 M NaOH was studies using cyclic voltammetry technique. Effective parameters included deposition potential of silica, deposition time of silica, immersion time of nickel foam in platinum solution, Concentration of platinum solution, concentration of NaOH solution and the furnace temperature were optimized. In the optimal condition, the prepared electrode showed excellent electrochemically active surface areas (ECSAs), catalytic activity, and stability toward the methanol electro-oxidation reaction (MOR) in the alkaline media .