Pt nanoparticles supported on one-dimensional (1D) titanium silicon nitride with high performance and stability for methanol electrooxidation.

A titanium silicon nitride nanotubes (TiSiN NTs) support with a one-dimensional (1D) nanostructure is controllable prepared in a controlled manner by adjusting the molar ratio of the precursors, and the TiSiN NTs support is further decorated with Pt nanoparticles to form an electrocatalyst for methanol electrooxidation. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the TiSiN NTs are formed with nanocrystals, and the hollow structure is composed of mesoporous walls. The N adsorption-desorption results reveal that the novel 1D nanotube structure exhibits a large Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, and the XPS patterns demonstrate the strong interaction between the TiSiN NTs support and the Pt nanoparticles. Furthermore, the electrochemical measurements show that the Pt/TiSiN NTs exhibit an enhanced performance and stability compared to the conventional Pt/C catalysts. The dramatically improved durability of the catalyst is confirmed by the accelerated durability test. The combination of facile preparation and remarkable electrochemical performance demonstrates that TiSiN NTs are promising candidates as supports for direct methanol fuel cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]