Surface Structure of Pt-Modified Au Nanoparticles and Electrocatalytic Activity in Formic Acid Electro-Oxidation

Platinum-modified Au nanoparticles on a carbon support were prepared using carbon-supported Au nanoparticles as a substrate and a successive reduction process. These nanoparticles were applied as an electrocatalyst for formic acid electro-oxidation. The uniform Pt-modified Au nanoparticles (<5 nm in diameter) were highly dispersed on the carbon particles, and the Au surface was deposited with nanoscaled Pt. The Pt-modified Au nanoparticles showed higher electrocatalytic activities than the pure Pt electrocatalyst in the area- and mass-specific current densities. These results might be due to the enhancement effect of Au atoms and the high Pt utilization in the formic acid electro-oxidation reaction.