Enhanced electrocatalytic performance of mesoporous nickel-cobalt oxide electrode for methanol oxidation in alkaline solution

• Published in: Materials letters 2017-06, Vol.196, p.365-368
• Main Authors: Arunachalam, Prabhakarn, Ghanem, Mohamed A., Al-Mayouf, Abdullah M., Al-shalwi, Matar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cobalt; Cobalt oxides; Electrocatalyst; Electrochemical analysis; Materials science; Methanol; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nickel; Nickel-cobalt oxide; Oxidation
• ISSN: 0167-577X; 1873-4979
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matlet.2017.03.080

•We report the meso nickel-cobalt oxide (NiCoO) based catalyst using microwave process.•Maximum BET surface of 180m2g−1 was observed.•The specific and mass activities reach up to 160mA/cm2 and 750mA/mg.•This provides a new route to prepare bimetal oxide for methanol oxidation reaction. Nickel-cobalt oxides nanocomposites with different Ni/Co ratios are fabricated by micro-wave assisted synthesis. The texture, morphology, BET surface area and electrochemical performance are found strongly related to Ni and Co concentration. The results illustrate that a hierarchical porous assembly of nanoparticles of ∼10nm was obtained, and the ratio of Ni/Co in the nanocomposites was nearly identical to its precursors. The electro-oxidation behavior of meso-nickel-cobalt oxides outperform pure NiO and Co3O4 for methanol oxidation reaction (MOR). The Ni-Co-O nanocomposite displays a highly stable response during MOR and it considered to a favorable material to develop non-Pt based fuel cells.