Electrocatalytical activity of Pt, SnO2 and RuO2 mixed electrodes for the electrooxidation of formic acid and formaldehyde

The electrocatalytical activity of binary electrodes of Pt and SnO2 and ternary electrodes of Pt and SnO2 and RuO2 for the electrooxidation of formic acid and formaldehyde was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry techniques. The electrode materials were prepared by the thermal decomposition of polymeric precursors at 400 deg C. The cyclic voltammetry results showed that the methanol electrooxidation process presents peak potentials for those electrodes approximately 100 mV lower than the values obtained for metallic platinum electrodes. The Pt0.6Ru0.2Sn0.2Oy electrodes presented the highest current density values for potentials lower than the peak potential values. The chronoamperometric experiments also showed that the addition of SnO2 and RuO2 contributed for the enhancement of the electrode activity in low potential values. The preparation method was found to be useful to obtain high active materials. (author)