Reusable and active Pt@Co-NC catalysts for oxidation of glycerol

Abstract Exploring active Pt catalysts is essential both in academics and economic for glycerol oxidation. In this paper, a method for the synthesis of highly efficient Pt@Co-NC catalyst for glycerol oxidation was studied. Pt@Co-NC was synthesized by pyrolyzing the composite of Pt nanoparticles (NPs) encapsulated in ZIF-67 (Pt@ZIF-67). Transmission electron microscopy analysis showed that Pt existed in the form of PtCo NPs and PtCo alloys, and X-ray photoelectron spectra analysis demonstrated the interaction of Pt and Co-NC. These results indicated that the activity of Pt@Co-NC by this work was superior to that of Pt/Co-NC by conventional methods, including the polyol reduction method, galvanic replacement method, and sol-gel method. Pt@Co-NC was used five times without deactivation, suggesting its high reusability. The high reusability and activity of Pt@Co-NC were attributed to its structure caused by the synthetic methods. The pore confinement and the interaction of Pt and Co-NC played a key role in the high reusability and activity of Pt@Co-NC.