Methanol electrooxidation at nickel-modified rhodanine self assembled monolayer films: A new class of multilayer electrocatalyst

Abstract

Nickel modified rhodanine (Rh) self-assembled monolayer films (Rh-SAM/Ni) were fabricated on copper from 10.0 mM Rh containing methanol. The films were characterized with the help of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques. The methanol oxidation activity of the Rh-SAM/Ni electrode was tested in 1.0 M methanol containing 0.1 M KOH solution using many electrochemical techniques. The results indicated that well-ordered and very homogeneously distributed Rh-SAM films were assembled over the copper surface. The rate of methanol electrooxidation reaction can be enhanced by modifying copper surface with Rh-SAM/Ni multi-layer film. The enhanced activity was related to increasing active sites over the surface for adsorption and oxidation of methanol as well as facilitating oxidation or desorption of adsorpted intermediates of the process. It was suggested that the Rh-SAM layer could be a candidate supporting material for fabricating direct methanol fuel cell (DMFCs) anodes. © 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC